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MODERN BAPTIST 



Heroes and Martyrs 



BY 

J. N. PRESTRIDGE, D. D. 

Author of "The Church a Composite Life" 






19 11 

THE WORLD PRESS 
LOUISVILLE. KY. 






COPYRIGHT 1911 

BY 

J. N. PRESTRIDGE. 



€»/:;•= 



X 



©CLA300647 



DEDICATED TO 

"Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephtha, . . David, Sam- 
uel" ; Oncken, Pavloff, StephanofT, Kostromin, Natalia, 
Ivanoff, Kornya, Westrop; to all those "who through 
faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, ob- 
tained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched 
the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from 
weakness were made strong, waxing mighty in war, 
turned to flight armies of aliens." 



CONTENTS. 

A New Roll-Call of Faith 17 

Chas. T. Byford. 

Natalia 49 

Madame M. Yasnovsky. 

The Novotnys of Prague, the Successors of Huss 65 

Henry Alford Porter, D.D. 

William Fetler 81 

Sadie Starke. 
Vasilia Pavloff (An Autobiography) . . .95 
Madame Vasilia Pavloff . . . . . 105 
A Child in a Land Far Away . . . .107 

Madame Lydia Kolatorova. 

Kapustinsky, Exiled Martyr .... 115 

Margaret A. Frost. 

Baron Woldemar Uixkull 137 

J. N. Prestridge, D.D. 

A Stundist's Conversion ..... 147 

Baron Woldemar Uixkull. 

Blossoming into Baptists 151 

E. A. Steiner, D.D. 
Baptist File-Leader of Bohemia .... 155 

Joseph Novotny. 

A Sad Case in France Righted . . . .165 

Paul Vincent, M.A., B.D. 

A Hero Colporter 171 

J. N. Prestridge, D.D. 



Four Heroes of the Faith . . . . .179 

Chas. T. Byford. 

Bohemia: Stories and the New Reformation . . 195 

Joseph Novotny. 

A Cossack Transfigured 203 

William E. Hatcher, D.D. 
Johann Gerhard Oncken . . . . .219 

W. 0. Carver, Th.D. 
A Roll-Gall of Chinese Martyrs . . . .237 

William H. Smith, D.D. 
John Clifford, Hero of Religious Liberty . . 257 

A. T. Robertson, D.D., LL.D. 
Laying Foundations in Modern Mexico . . . 267 

W. D. Powell, D.D. 
Pablo Besson: Apostle of Argentina .... 279 

S. J. Porter, D.D. 
Jose Barretto, Brazil . . . . . . 291 

T. B. Ray, D.D. 
Lott Carey, a Negro Hero to the Dark Continent . 299 

E. C. Morris, D.D. 

Toussaint L'Guverture, A Haitian Martyr . . 309 

R. H. Boyd, D.D. 

Kin Cheoss, An Indian Hero 315 

A. J. Holt, D.D. 

Martyr Marks 321 

William E. Hatcher, D.D. 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Russian Heroes Frontispiece v 

Vasilia Ivanoff 21 , 

Simon Stepbanoff 27 N 

Andreas Erstratenko 33 y/ 

Andreas Levnchkin 42 

Joseph Novotny 67 

William Fetler 83 / 

Vasilia Pavloff 97 V 

Baron Woldemar Uixkull 139 y 

Henry Novotny . - . . 157^ 

John Rottmayer, Jr 173 

Andreas Udvarnoki . . . . . .181 

Peter Doycheff 187 

Fedot Petrovitch Kostromin 205 

Johann Gerhard Oncken 221 

John Clifford . . ... . . . . . .259 

Pablo Besson 281 



FOREWORDS. 

Humanity has always been powerfully moved by two 
forces, the gregarious or crowd-forming and the individ- 
ualistic. The first force for centuries proved the more 
powerful, and the young and weak elements of human- 
ity became crowded together. Such crowds afforded op- 
portunities for the self-aggrandizement of the strong 
and base and cunning. In such relations the story of 
man's inhumanity to man is full of tears and blood. 
Slavery of body and mind and soul prevailed. Those 
members of the crowd who possessed organizing skill, 
political and financial cunning, herded the people and 
imprisoned, fleeced and slaughtered them as their greed 
and vanity dictated. Truly those were long and dark ages. 

god's favorites. 

But the other force in humanity had to be reckoned 
with, the individualistic. People after all were found 
not to be sheep and God was over and in them. There 
are no more interesting or instructive parts of history 
than those where individuals, open-faced and with heads 
uplifted, began to question and to defy the arbitrary 



FOREWORDS 

sway of the crowd-forming force. That questioning 
and that defying were the first green leaves of the coming 
glorious harvests. 

History is the record of the struggle, bitter and un- 
ceasing, between these two forces, the crowd-forming 
and the individualistic. These make the anvil and the 
hammer with which God undertook to forge out mem- 
bers for a new order of society, the Kingdom of Heaven 
upon earth. God seems to value above all tears and 
chains and groans and martyrs' graves, the outcome of 
struggle. He avows in inspiration that His favorites, 
those who shall sit with Him upon His throne judging 
the nations, are the overeomers. 

BAPTIST HEROES AND MARTYRS. 

The Baptists have always headed the individualistic 
forces. That .was the part assigned to them in the hu- 
man drama, and that is their glory and crown. Natur- 
ally, then, their history is a history of conflicts, of chains 
and prisons. It is no string of accidents which has caused 
the Baptists to furnish so large a part of the world's 
heroes and martyrs. 

Every war has its budget of cost, and the Baptists 
have always been at war. They have been in the very 
nature of their calling the religious warriors of the cen- 
turies, and they possess the warrior's virtues and the 
warrior's faults, and they must naturally expect to leave 
their dead upon the world's battle fields. It is conceded 



FOREWORDS 

by the historian Bancroft that freedom of conscience is 
their trophy. If all the corner stones laid in freedom's 
honor could have a composite expression in human form 
there would be a greater "Stone Face" than Nathaniel 
Hawthorne's and its very lineaments would be 
Baptistic. 

THE TWO BAPTIST LINKS. 

Freedom for the individual and unconditioned loyal- 
ty to the living, present and reigning Christ are the two 
links which bind Baptists together, and which, it is ap- 
parent, will in no distant day bind together all who are 
called by His name. 

These two principles are today commonplace princi- 
ples with the people who read and think. The passion- 
ate love of Baptists for liberty has permeated the atmos- 
phere of the world; for generations it has been built 
into the essential 'structure of humanity. 

The claim accented in this volume is that in this 
great cause the Baptists are leading and have always 
led. This is the way of approach to Baptists and by 
Baptists for the coming answer to the Master's prayer 
for the oneness of His followers. 

The story of one hero, the George Washington of 
Haitian Negroes, is told herein who was not a Baptist, 
but he was moved by the spirit which has always moved 
Baptists, and he became a name-kindled spirit, a spirit 
storm-swept for freedom, viz.^ Toussaint L'Ouverture. 



FOREWORDS 

All such the Baptists are learning to claim as closest of 
kin. 

A NEW ROLL CALL OF FAITH. 

Just at this time there breaks forth with the sudden- 
ness of a summer shower a varied, rich and wide-spread 
array of heroes and martyrs. The explanation is found 
in the almost sudden, prairie-fire-like spread of the dem- 
ocratic spirit over the continents.- Century-long tyran- 
nical forces face extinction and their officials are fight- 
ing for their lives. There are heroes and martyrs in 
other lands, some of whose stories appear in this vol- 
ume but in Russia and the other Slav states are found 
numbers of men and women and children whose lives are 
blackened by prisons, by scourgings, and by wounds of 
clanking and cruel chains, and the lives of others are be- 
ing murderously blotted out. This collection of hero and 
martyr stories is published as a protest against 'all these 
wrongs and a® a contribution to the forces fighting for 
freedom and faith. 

Of course only a small part of the stories of those 
who have suffered and who are suffering for their faith 
appear in this volume, but here will be found represent- 
atives from many countries upon both continents — Rus- 
sians, Letts, Bohemian's, Moravians, Bulgarians, Ser- 
vians, Hungarians, Brazilians, Chinese, Mexicans, Argen- 
tines, Negroes, Indians, Americans and others. It has 
been my endeavor to get the stories at first hand, either 






FOREWORDS 

written by the sufferers themselves or by those in close 
touch with them. In other cases the facts have been 
collected and verified, and writers secured with special 
equipment for each case, who have sought as far as pos- 
sible to use the very words of the subjects of the stories. 
The many excellent portraits given add much to the 
value of the volume. 

INDEBTEDNESS. 

First of all my debt is to the Baptist World Alliance 
and especially to the recent session in Philadelphia, 
June, 1911. Out of my relations to this body have come 
the information and inspiration which have made this 
volume possible. I am deeply indebted to Rev. Charles 
T. Byford, the Commissioner of the Baptist World Alli- 
ance to the Continent of Europe, a brother to whom 
history will give great honor for his faithful and wise 
service in his large and trying field. His picture appears 
in the frontispiece group, the first on the left of the 
center line. (A word of explanation regarding the ap- 
pearance in this group of my picture. I was accidentally 
passing the hotel of the Russian messengers when they 
were being posed on the pavement by a photographer, 
and in a chorus they began to cry out merrily, "Rus- 
sian," "Russian," and they made a place and would have 
it as it is — an incident of abiding pleasure to the adopted 
"Russian".) Indebtedness is acknowledged to the 
Baptist Times, London, which published a number of re- 



FOREWORDS 

ports of Commissioner Byford and others. And to Rev. 
A. J. Vining, the Baptist World Alliance representa- 
tive in America, who first put me in correspondence with 
a number of these heroes, who had in this way, previous 
to the meeting of the Alliance, become personal friends, 
brothers honored and well beloved. 

The logic of the volume is that the mission of the 
Baptists has not yet been completed. 

J. N. Prestridge. 



A NEW ROLL-CALL OF FAITH. 



ft MIDNIGHT BAPTISM AND COMMUNION. 

I arrived in Ttirocz, Russia, about six o'clock in the 
evening. The word was passed around amongst the 
members of the church that a service was to be held 
that same evening. Just after dusk the brethren began 
to come into the main room of the farm steading until 
at least seven and twenty persons were gathered together. 
After the exposition of the first chapter of John, a church 
meeting was held and two candidates were accepted for 
baptism. 

Close upon midnight five of us started to walk across 
the fields and after covering about three miles we struck 
into the forest. Presently we came to a sluggish stream 
not more than three feet in depth, and there whilst 
the moon was flooding the rivulet with a silver light and 
in the near distance we could hear the barking of the 
wolves, the two candidates quickly disrobed themselves, 
and the elder of the church, preceding them into the 
water, administered the solemn and sacred rite of bap- 
tism. "We were a glad company wending our way back 
to the farmhouse and on arrival at the door found the 



18 MODERN BAPTIST 

church still engaged in prayer for the success of our en- 
terprise and for the safety of all who were taking part 
in the ordinance. ' A rough wood table was placed in 
the center of the room, the elder read from the hook 
of the Corinthians Paul's version of the institution of the 
last supper, several of our brethren led in prayer and 
presently there was passed from hand to hand a piece 
of black bread and afterwards a china cup filled with 
the red wine of the country. Before the service closed 
all knelt around the table and many and fervent were 
the prayers for the spread of the Kingdom of Christ in 
that land of trial and of triumph. Just before the dawn 
began to break in the east the members of the church 
one by one wended their way to their various homes to 
harness the horses to their farm wagons, prepared to go 
through another day's toil with lighter hearts and more 
buoyant spirits in that they had been refreshed in heart 
and soul through communion with the Most High God. 

IVAN KUCHNIREFF. 

He was born in 1861 in the Holy City of Kieff. His 
father was a Greek Orthodox priest but he gave no edu- 
cation to his children, and they were allowed to grow 
up without learning to read or to write. At eighteen 
years of age he was drawn in conscription for a soldier, 
and during his service in the army learned to read and 
to write, and at last was 'appointed as an army clerk. On 
completing his military service he obtained a govern- 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 19 

ment position as a road surveyor. In 1892 he came 
across a traveling Baptist preacher with the result that 
the following year he was baptized and became a mem- 
ber of the church in Kieff. He began then to earn his 
living as a writer of petitions to the courts of justice. 
Until 1905 he devoted all his spare time to advocating 
the cause of persecuted Baptists, visited the prisoners and 
presented their cases to the higher courts. In the early 
days of 1905 the persecution was so widespread that the 
Baptist Union of Russia appointed him as their official 
advocate and from their funds paid his expenses of 
travel. He receives no salary for this work, but depends 
upon the hospitality of the friends whose cases he brings 
before the courts. Several times his furniture has been 
seized and confiscated, and even at the present time he 
lives from hand to mouth. 

During the persecution of 1907-08 he was in such 
dire poverty that frequently he would go for whole days 
without food, his wife and children sharing his hard- 
ships. There have even been occasions when he has 
given his children rock salt to satisfy their cravings of 
hunger. 

Those associated with this calm and poised man at 
Philadelphia became conscious of his culture of mind 
and heart and of his resourceful and unflinching spirit. 
These words and his picture, which is the center on the 
center row in the frontispiece group, give a good con- 
ception of the man. He says : 



20 MODERN BAPTIST 

"My work is different from that of my brethren, but 
I like to think that, in my way, I, too, am doing good. 
I was thirty-one years old when I was converted. 

. "At that time I was an advocate and I believed that 
I could make myself useful in practicing my profession 
in behalf of my brethren who got into trouble with the 
authorities. I found plenty to do. In fact, my whole 
time was taken up. 

"Frequently I travel from place to place defending 
Baptists who have been imprisoned by the police, and 
do not see my home for weeks. 

"Under the old law Baptists were imprisoned or sent 
to Siberia simply for believing in their religion and 
practicing their faith. This condition still exists in the 
outlying country, and it is there that our work meets 
with the most obstacles.' ' 

VASILIA IVANOFF. 

Vasilia Ivan off, a Molokan, was born in the govern- 
ment of Elizabethpol, Russia, in 1848. lie was converted 
in 1870 and baptized in the Tiflis river on October the 
twenty-first, a date which he recalls with much joy and 
tenderness. He had come through much travail and he 
knew his own mind and the mind of his Savior as well, 
and so he began preaching at once. With almost equal 
promptness he began to suffer from severe persecution. 
Such a flaming spirit as his could not but attract the at- 
tention of the enemies of his Master. His persecutions 
continued until 1884, including the deprivation of all 




VASILIA IVANOFF. 



(21) 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 23 

civil rights. He traveled fearlessly without the required 
but denied passport, and at last he was exiled, and heing 
permitted to return was again exiled for four years for 
faithful preaching of the Gospel, in 1895. In the Cau- 
casus he was made to serve as a beast of burden, being 
chained with fifteen other men and compelled to grind 
corn on a treadmill. He still has to suffer persecution, 
and the police refused him a passport to go to Phila- 
delphia to attend the Baptist World Alliance, but he 
managed to evade them and succeeded in crossing the 
frontier. 

He has more than three hundred members in hia 
church at Baku, and the people throng to his preaching 
sendees, Tartars, Turks, Armenians, Kurds as well as 
Russians. Owing to the flowing nature of the popula- 
tion at Baku his converts spread over a very wide terri- 
tory and his message is repeated in many villages and 
hamlets and cities. Only the recording angel can ever 
know how wide the reach of the influence of this faith- 
ful and fearless servant of Jesus Christ. He told his own 
story to a reporter in these simple and direct words: 

"My life has been one of hardship and suffering, 
which my appearance does not belie. Born in Baku, 
Caucasus, sixty-three years ago, I was converted and bap- 
tized when I was twenty-two years old. Since that time 
most of my life has been spent in prison and exile. 

"My persecution began when I became a Baptist, but 
in spite of what I have suffered I am thankful that I 



24 MODERN BAPTIST 

have lived to bring the light of religion to hundreds of 
my fellow creatures. 

"Twice because I persisted in preaching when I had 
been ordered to stop I was sent to Siberia. There I was 
chained to criminals — robbers, and worse — in the chain 
gang. I have been sent to prison so many times that T 
have lost track of the exact number, but if my memory 
serves me I have seen the ins ides of thirty-^ne different 
prisons. In one prison I had to work on the treadmill. 

"During the years of my ministry I have baptized 
over fifteen hundred men and women, most of them at 
night in some lonely place away from the eyes of the 
police. Often I have chopped through the ice in order to 
administer the baptismal rite. Once I baptized a group 
of eighty-six persons." 

NICHOLAS SKORADOKDOFF. 






He is a young man, twenty-seven years old. He was 
converted eight years ago and was baptized and com- 
menced to preach immediately. His father was a Baptist 
minister who died in exile in the Caucasus after many 
imprisonments. He is a Caucasian by birth. On his 
return from Philadelphia he went to undertake pioneer 
work under the Russian Baptist Union in the district 
where his father was martyred. This is the simple and 
modest way he tells his own story: 

"My religion has been one of the saddest yet hap- 
piest parts of my life. It was my father's religion and 
it cost him his life, for he died in exile after he had 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 25 

been imprisoned many times for teaching and leading 
the people to conversion. 

"I was baptized eight years ago and spent two years 
in the preachers' school in Lodz and six months in Riga. 
Upon my return I undertook pioneer work in the Cau- 
casus, where my father met a martyr's death, and al- 
though I met with many obstacles the work of the Gospel 
was easy compared with what it was when my father 
went there many years before. 

"My brother was converted several years ago and is 
minister at a small church in Baku." 

JACOB VINCE. 

Jacob Vince is a descendant of one of the old German 
families settled in Russia. He was born in 1876 and at 
eighteen years of age was baptized. For six years he has 
been the pastor of a church in Samara. For the past 
four years he has been under police surveillance, and 
spent last November in prison. During his ministry in 
Samara he has baptized more than five hundred believers, 
has built up a church of three hundred and seventy 
members, besides opening eleven mission stations. His 
church was founded immediately after the manifesto 
granting liberty to the subjects of the czar, but hardly 
a month passed in which he did not have to suffer mone- 
tary fines for baptisms. In May, 1911, he was fined 
three hundred roubles, about one hundred and fifty 
dollars, or three months in prison for baptizing his peo- 



26 MODERN BAPTIST 



pie, and when he returns to Russia he must face this 
charge and meet the threatened penalty. He says 

"For the past six years I have been minister of tho 
little church in Samara, trying my best to convert others 
to the religion I believe in. I was born thirty-five years 
ago. Since my baptism I have been under the eye 
of the police, my every move watched. So far I have 
escaped prison, except for one month, and I consider 
myself fortunate. 

"My most recent offense, for which I must answer 
when I return to my country, was being found baptizing 
eight Russians whom I had led to conversion. That was 
early in May. I feared the charge would prevent my 
coming to America, but the Lord was good to me, and 
I am thankful." 

His picture appears at the left end of the top row 
of the frontispiece group. 

SIMON STEPHANOFF. 

Simon Stephanoff was baptized twenty-five years ago 
and began to preach immediately. During the first 
twelve months of his preaching two attempts were made 
on his life. On one occasion he was with Ivanoff and 
the police broke into the meeting house. The brethren 
had fled twelve versts away into the wood and continued 
to pray. Meanwhile the police came to the village and 
searched it thoroughly, even lifting the floors and 
thatches, but finding no one, w T ent their way. Next 



lis 




SIMON STEPHANOFF. 



(27) 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 29 

morning the brothers arrived in the village, delayed by 
being lost throughout the night in the forest, and the 
police were gone, so they had a great meeting in which 
many were converted and baptized. There is a strong 
church there now. 

This was the first miracle God wrought in answer to 
his prayer, he says. 

He was the first convert in the Varoitza government. 
When I commented upon his aged appearance, I dis- 
covered the reason in the answer, that for ten years 
after his conversion he was hunted by the police from 
place to place and lived an exceedingly hard life. 

During twenty-five years he has baptized more than 
one thousand persons, working mostly in the Don Cos- 
sack country. He is now pastor of the Baptist church 
at Moscow. 

He has been twice in prison in Varoitza and twice in 
the prison of Tambaff, sent without judgment, on ad- 
ministrative order. 

He has been thrice called upon to discuss the Bap- 
tist position with the Greek ecclesiastical authorities. The 
police wanted him to sign a paper that he would preach 
no more, and not attempt to influence the ignorant peo- 
ple. His cousin is at present spending five years in 
exile in Siberia. 

He says: "For the ten years which followed my 
baptism and the beginning of my preaching, I was 
never given a minute's peace by the police. I was 
hounded like a criminal from place to place, and no 



30 MODERN BAPTIST 

sooner would I start to preach tban the police would 
be upon me. I was cast into prison so often that it be- 
came an old story to me. 

"Five years of my life I spent in Siberia, often in 
the midst of criminals of the lowest type. There 1 
knew what real suffering was. Often I was without food 
for days, and many times I was too weak to eat what 
they gave me. Those were awful years. 

"Despite the greater liberty which, has been given 
us in recent years, the police threaten to send me back 
to Siberia if I do not confine my preaching to the regular 
meeting houses and stop trying to make converts among 
those of the Greek Orthodox religion." 

(Editorial Note. — Ke is of great size, as his picture indi- 
cates, his voice is smooth and low-pitched, and his smiie is 
full of gentleness and good-will. On his right hand there 
is a deep scar from above the wrist to the third finger which 
shows that tine whole hand had been laid open. The finger is 
distorted and shriveled. This happened on an occasion when 
the Cossacks bound him and his wife and beat them both into 
insensibility.. When he became conscious he found that she 
was dead. He asked from what section the Cossacks came, 
and wrapping up what -clothing he had left he made his waiy 
to that section and the larger ruumber of his baptisms were 
of the families and neighbors of the men who had beaten him 
and murdered! his wife. It was impossible not to love him.) 

VASTLIA STEPHAXOFF. 

Vasilia StephanofT is the brother of Simon StephanofT, 
the pastor of the church in Moscow. He was a Molo- 
kan. Born in 1875 and was converted in 1890, and al- 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 31 

though only fifteen years of age, began to preach im- 
mediately. He served as a conscript in St. Petersburg 
for four years and looked upon it as a splendid oppor- 
tunity to influence his comrades in the 'army. In 1899 
he was sent by the Russian Baptist Union to commence 
pioneer Baptist work in Pesky and since then has built 
up a church of two hundred members and has opened 
twenty mission stations. Every year since his advent 
in the district the church has sent out a missionary to 
do pioneering work. Last year in his mission stations he 
baptized two hundred and fifty believers, making a 
total of seven hundred, apart from the mother church. 
He has been before the police several times but has 
never been convicted. He is at present the secretary of 
the Russian Baptist Union and is a splendid type of the 
younger men in the Russian ministry. 

His picture appears fifth from the left on the bottom 
row of the frontispiece group. 

ZANOVIEFF PAVLIENKO. 

He was born in Traboff, Paltania, Russia, and was 
converted nine years ago. He says : 

"I am only one otf the younger men in the field and 
can show but few scars of service. I was born in 1882, * 
of parents who were firm believers in the Greek Ortho- 
dox religion. 

"I was converted when I was twenty years old and 
have been cut off from my family ever since. Four times 



32 MODERN BAPTIST 

I have been before the authorities because I persisted in 
preaching after I had been warned not to." 

On his return to Russia he is to be stationed as pastor 
of the Baptist church at Nicolaieff. 

His picture appears the second from the left of the 
top row of the frontispiece group. 

ANDREAS ERSTRATENKO. 

Andreas Erstratenko was born at Balashov, Russia, 
in the province of Saratov, in 1863. He was Greek 
Orthodox in faith and until his conversion was himself 
a fierce and terrible persecutor of Baptists. When word 
was brought into the districts that the Baptists had com- 
menced their meetings, he placed himself at the head of 
rioters and incited them to stone-throwing and window- 
breaking and general persecution. In 1890, Vasilia Ivan- 
off came into the district to preach and Erstratenko was 
converted and baptized. He began to preach in his vil- 
lage with the result that the work began to spread and 
a small church was founded. The year following his 
baptism six families from the village were sent into 
exile and five families remained under police super- 
vision. At the end of another year, Erstratenko and the 
head of each family were sent to prison for two years 
without trial and during that time they were beaten and 
otherwise suffered. After their return from prison they 
were arrested every time they met in one another's 
houses for prayer and were always fined forty roubles, 




ANDREAS ERSTRATENKO. 



(33) 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 35 

about twenty dollars, each, until they were absolutely 
penniless. Being penniless they began to look at their 
work from a fresh point of view, now they had nothing 
to lose, the worst the Russian government could do to 
them was to send them to prison and to exile. So they 
met boldly in the day time, and seourgings and beatings 
followed. One day Erstratenko's mother was so brutally 
flogged that three of her ribs were broken and her death 
ensued the following day. With three brethren he was 
seized while preaching in a village and all four of them 
were flogged until they were unconscious, and a com- 
passionate man took pity upon them, laid them in the 
bottom of his farm wagon and drove them to their homes. 
Several times he went to prison, being unable to pay his 
fine, and at last was banished to Siberia. 

He has now been twelve years in Siberia and when 
liberty was granted to the exiles in 1905 he elected to 
remain in the land and became pastor of the church 
which has been gathered together under his preaching. 
He was privileged to baptize the first political exiles con- 
verted in Siberia, and during his freedom since 1905, 
has baptized more than two thousand persons in Siberia 
alone. As a result of his labors there are more than six 
thousand Baptists who look up to him as their pastor. 
On more than one occasion he has had to cut a hole in 
the ice in the dead of night when the thermometer was 
lower than forty degrees Centigrade. From the begin- 
ning of his Christian life until the present time he has 
never received money as a preacher of the Gospel. Like 



36 MODERN BAPTIST 

the early apostles, he is the guest of the Christian fami- 
lies and churches which he ministers to. In some of the 
villages south of the Baikal more than half the people 
are Baptists. In the early days of his ministry in Siberia, 
ten to twelve years ago, he has known women to travel 
three or four hundred versts (one hundred and eighty 
English miles) to be baptized. He had some money of 
his own but repeated fines have impoverished him. He 
says: 

"I regret to say that I persecuted those of the Baptist 
faith as cruelly as any one. To me at that time they were 
heathen, infidels, and meriting only our scorn and con- 
tempt. 

"One day it dawned on me that, right or wrong, they 
had a right to their religious views, and I resolved to 
investigate their religion. I attended a meeting, ashamed 
of the weakness that took me there, and soon became 
deeply impressed with the views expressed by Vasilia 
Ivanoff, who was secretly holding meetings. 

"I was twenty-seven years old when I was converted, 
and so strong a hold did the faith take that I began to 
preadh immediately. You can imagine the contempt my 
former fellows had for me when they learned of my con- 
version. I was hissed and hooted in the streets and fre- 
quently stoned when I tried to preach. 

"Then began a long series of persecutions by the 
police. I was sent to prison, placed in a dungeon and 
half starved. I was beaten and scourged manv times in 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 37 

an effort to drive the 'Baptist devil' from me, but I re- 
mained true to my adopted religion under their torture." 

PAUL DATZCHO. 

He is twenty-six years of age, a native of Kharkoff, and 
he was converted nine years ago. His mother was the 
first Baptist in Kharkoff, twenty-four years ago. He has 
been before the court and sentenced to prison for three 
months for preaching and was threatened with the loss 
of all civil rights. Last October he baptized eighteen peo- 
ple in the forest at midnight. He has spent two years 
in Lodz at the seminary founded by Baron Uixkull, and 
the last six months in Riga. On his return to Russia, he 
is to be inducted as the minister of the church in Khar- 
koff, where there are four hundred members. He says: 

"I was born in Kharkoff in 1885 and was baptized 
in the Baptist faith when I was seventeen years old. My 
mother, who has long been a hell ever in the Baptist 
faith, was sent to prison and 1 remained there some time 
because she would not renounce it and become a member 
of the state Church and because she held a prayer meet- 
ing in her house. 

"I was cast into prison, too, for spreading the Gospel 
in Kharkoff, and was kept there three month-;. I have 
baptized many people, but I had to be very careful that 
the authorities did not catch me doing it. Many times I 
have baptized in the forests in the dead of night, often 
having to chop a hole in the ice to do to. 



38 MODERN BAPTIST 

"When I get back to Russia I hope to be allowed to 
continue my work in the church at Kharkoff." 

His picture appears third from the left of the top 
row of the frontispiece group. 

M. BALICHIN. 

He was 'born in 1856 and converted in 1831 and bap- 
tized in 1882. In 1883 he began to travel and preach 
the Gospel. In 1884 he was at the first conference at 
St. Petersburg called by Col. Paschoff, the English Lord 
Radstock and others. He was then arrested and later 
was released from prison and sent away to a far corner 
of the empire. He has not been banished. In 1886, he 
was ordained as pastor in Astrakankskia. He was 
chosen by the Baptist Union to visit the scattered group? 
of believers in Russia and has baptized more than anyone 
else in Russia in the dead of night in the depths of the 
forests. He has always escaped arrest since his first ex- 
perience. In all he has baptized about fifteen hundred 
believers. Oftentimes the police have come into the meet- 
ings and disputed with him, but he has always been 
favored. In 1900 when many were imprisoned he had 
a power of attorney to visit the prisons and employ ad- 
vocates and thus obtained the release of many impris- 
oned brethren. 

In one town, Ekaterinaslav, he visited believers 
among the prisoners, and in the prison discovered one 
brother who held the appointment of official swineherd, 



HEROES AND MARTYRS, 39 

who 'had to take charge of stolen pigs and return them 
to their owners. Balichin tried to see him, but the gov- 
ernor refused him permission. Some of the prisoners 
saw Balichin about and one called out to him, ''Come 
and see if you have lost any swine." On Baiiehin's accept- 
ing the invitation he was brought before the governor, 
and thus was able to bring the case to the police authori- 
ties, and ultimately secured the release of his friend. 
During his ministry he has set apart thirty-two young 
men as preachers of the Gospel. Since 1905 he has been 
engaged in- pioneer work and has rented music halls 
and theaters in which he carries on his propaganda work. 
He is supported largely by a wealthy man, who wishes 
secretly to carry on this work, without interruption. He 
thus tells his own story; 

"I iam a Molokan, born in 1856. I was converted to 
the Baptist religion when I was twenty-six years old. 
For four years I carried on the work of making con- 
verts despite orders from the police to stop it. 

"I was constantly under suspicion, but by exercising 
great care in my work and holding secret meetings 
away from the towns I was able to keep out of the hands 
of the authorities until 1886. Then I was sentenced to a 
term in prison, and at the end of my sentence released 
with, a warning that I would be sent back if I was found 
preaching again. 

"I still carried on the work, but had to be more 
careful than before, because I was constantly under sus- 
picion. We would meet in some lonely spot in the 



40 MODERN BAPTIST 

depths of the forest late at night, stealing: there one by 
one, and post sentinels to avoid being surprised by the 
police. Of the more than sixteen hundred persons I 
have baptized, by far the greater majority were converted 
at such meetings. The peasants realized it meant im- 
prisonment for them if they were caught attending a 
Baptist meeting and so they had to exercise great se- 
crecy. 

"Of late years much of my work ha? been in visiting 
the prisons and comforting Baptists who were serving 
sentences because of their religion." 

His picture appears on the right end of the center 
row of the frontispiece group. 

EOMORN HOMIAC. 

He was born in the government of Astrakan, in 1881, 
and received a good education in the gymnasium. His 
people are all Greek Orthodox. In 1905 he was brought 
under the influence of Simon Stephanoff, and in the 
month of June of the same year was baptized in the 
river Molgor. In 1906 he went to St. Petersburg and 
helped in a village church. Two years later he was one 
of the ten men selected to go to the seminary at Lodz 
where he spent three years, afterwards proceeding to 
Riga. He has already won his spurs as a preacher and 
hardly a month has passed without his baptizing ten or 
more people. It is not yet settled where the Kussian 
Baptist Union will station him as pastor. 




ANDREAS LEVUCHKIN. 



(42) 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 43 

His picture appears fourth from the left on the top 
row of the frontispiece group. 

ANDREAS LEVUCHKIN. 

Andreas Levuchkin was born in 1858 at Tambov, in 
the province of Saratov, in Eastern Russia. At sixteen 
years of age he went to Tin 1 is and there first came into 
contact with the Baptists. He was converted in 1882, 
and like all our Russian converts commenced preaching 
immediately-. For three years he preached "with freedom 
and then his trials commenced, until at last, in 1891, ho 
was sent into exile in Transcaucasia by administrative 
order, that is, without the formality of a trial. He was 
sent amongst the Tartars that not understanding their 
language he would be unable to preach to them, but as 
there was a large company of exiles in that district he 
was enabled to have fellowship with them. He spent 
eight years in exile and returned home in 1900. He 
gays: 

"I was converted to the Baptist faith when I was 
twenty-two years old. My parents were both members 
of the Greek Orthodox Church. T was born in 1858 and 
baptized in 1882. In 1891 charges were brought against 
me and without the formality of a trial I was sent into 
exile, I was given the privilege of paying my own fare 
and that of the two guards who accompanied me, 

"I was in exile for eight long, weary years, being 
kept among the Tartars to prevent my preaching to the 



U MODERN BAPTIST 

Russian people. Since my return from exile in 1899 
I have been constantly under police supervision. 

"When the authorities learned that I was making 
plans to go to the convention at Philadelphia, an old 
charge of several years' standing was brought up against 
me, but I had my passport and cleared across the fron- 
tier before they could arrest me. 

"I expect to be arrested and to stand trial as soon as 
I return to Russia." 

His trial is sure to cost him one hundred and fifty 
dollars or three months in a Russian prison, and words 
can hardly describe the suffering of the alternative. 

A BAPTIST HEROINE IN SERVIA. 

Twenty-three years ago two Germans went down to 
Servia, Mr. and Mrs. Schneider. They had been brought 
under the influence of Rev. J. G. Oncken, the German 
Baptist hero, who in much suffering and many labors 
laid the foundations for this modern Baptist revival on 
the Continent of Europe. Arriving in Belgrade, the 
capital of Servia, they commenced to speak to their 
neighbors the Baptist faith and principles. Gradually 
men and women began to seek and to find salvation and 
to ask for baptism, and a small church was formed. 
Their work progressed quietly for several years, meetings 
being held in the homes of some of the wealthier mem- 
bers. At last a decision was taken to arise and build. 
Mr. McKenzie, a Scotch Baptist merchant in the city, 
helped them considerably, and at last an excellent church 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 45 

building, which seated about four hundred people was 
erected close to the market square. The building was 
only used for worship once, the dedication sendee, for 
the police, instigated by the priests of the Orthodox 
Church, stepped in and confiscated the building and put 
several of the leaders in prison for three months. The 
building still stands as a monument to the intolerance of 
the Servian government. It is used for a govern- 
ment bank. From this time onward the Baptists in 
Servia had to suffer scourgings and imprisonments. 
They were not allowed to meet for worship with the result 
that week by week they gathered in the forests or in 
quiet places by the riverside to comfort one another in 
the Kingdom of God and to sing his praises. Shortly 
after the confiscation of the church building, Mr. 
Schneider died and in the following year his wife was 
stricken with blindness. It was now an exceedingly diffi- 
cult matter for her to attend the meetings of the breth- 
ren. She would need a guide to lead her to the secret 
meeting place, and to he conducted regularly from her 
home through the crowded streets of the city would 
probably mean the betrayal of those gathered together for 
worship. Occasionally the members of the church would 
come to her bare whitewashed room and read to her 
from the Word of God, and join with her in prayer. 
Twelve months ago an officer of the police came to live 
in the house next to hers and his advent struck consterna- 
tion into the heart of the sister for the visit of the 
brethren would be known to him and they would speed- 



46 MODERN BAPTIST 

ily find themselves in trouble. A few weeks after the 
policeman had taken his residence,, his little boy fell 
down and broke his leg, and the blind woman used to gc 
and sit by his bedside and began to tell him some of the 
New Testament stories. The mother of the lad was 
greatly interested in the stories and the truths they 
taught and she began to inquire more perfectly the way 
of salvation. One day the policeman asked Mrs. Schnei- 
der if there were any more people in the city of her way 
of thinking. She was in a quandary. She hardly knew 
what answer to make. To deny would be to lie and that 
she could not do; to affirm might mean betrayal of 
the followers of Christ, and while she hesitated what to 
do, the policeman said, "Do not be afraid, I too would 
like to be one of you." The result has been that for 
the past few months as many as six and eight brethren 
have met in the room of the old woman, and one can 
never forget her expressions of devout thankfulness to 
God that once again under the protection of the resident 
policeman the brethren are enabled to meet in her 
home for worship. One can still hear her plaintive voice 
saying, "Oh, how good the great God is to us, how very 
good God is to us, for when the rain pelts down and the 
strong winds blow, we can sing, if we sing very softly, a 
hymn of praise to Him."' 

Scattered all over the lana there are these little com- 
panies of Baptists, who, despite all the pains and penal- 
ties inflicted upon them by a retrograde government, yet 
meet to worship and praise their Lord and Master. 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 47 

IVAN SAVELIEFF. 

This servant of Jesus Christ was born in 1858, in 
Saratoff, Russia. He had belonged to the Molokani, a 
sect after the order of the Quakers. He was converted 
When twenty-five years of age in Vladikasvas and was 
baptized in 1883. Immediately he began to preach the 
Gospel as do so many fellow confessors of faith in 
Christ. He was exiled for five years for preaching in 
Transcaucasia, 1894-1900, by administrative order, that 
is, without due process of law. For four years he was 
officially recognized as a preacher by the Russian Baptist 
Union at Vladikasvas, 1900-1904. Seven times has he 
been imprisoned for short periods, but he does not count 
imprisonment as suffering since it is for the Gospel's sake. 
He is liable to arrest upon return from Philadelphia. If 
called upon all who know him know that he will remain 
true to his faith. 

At one time all of his meetings were forbidden, and 
every Saturday spies came from the police to discover 
where the meetings were to be held. Notwithstanding, 
meetings were always held, sometimes in the depths of 
the forests and sometimes in secluded places on the river 
banks. 

One Sunday they met in a barn and the police dis- 
covered them. One brother was on watch at the door 
for the police 'and when he saw them coming he railed 
the owner of the house, who locked the barn door from 
the outside and went into the house. The police de- 



48 MODERN BAPTIST 

manded to search the house and did so, 'but forgot the 
barn. Later, as they waited, the crowd came out and 
the police were greatly surprised. 

Whenever a strange Baptist preacher came to town 
he was locked up every Saturday until Monday. Every 
Sunday the police have attempted to disperse the meet- 
ings by protocol. Each time all the worshipers were 
arrested and brought before the court, charged with be- 
ing law breakers, but these persecutions only brought 
more to the meetings. The judge became helpless and 
confused and he finally dismissed them, testifying to 
their good spirit and behavior. Savelieff says: 

"Since 1904, I have been pastor of a little church in 
Vladikasvas. I was converted when twenty-five. Fol- 
lowing that I was sent to prison many times for short 
sentences in adhering to my chosen religion. 

"In 1894 I was sent to Siberia for five years, where 
I suffered as others of my brethren had before me. In 
1900, just about a year after my return from exile, I 
was sent back again to Siberia for preaching, re- 
maining there until 1904. 

"Since then I have been before the magistrates many 
times and have a charge pending now which I must face 
when I return to Russia," 

His picture appears at the left end of the bottom 
row of the frontispiece group. 

Chas. T. Byford, 

London, England. 



NATALIA. 

"Natalia, you must get ready. We are leaving in 
a week," said Michael Ivanoff, entering the room. 

Ivanoff was the son of a Russian priest. He was not 
a dutiful son of the Greek Orthodox Church in spite 
of the position occupied by his father. He seldom went 
to church; his faith in its teachings was shaken, and 
the life of the priests he knew by experience was 
far from what it should be, and they had lost their in- 
fluence over him and made him indifferent as to the 
faith of his fathers. As with most of the Russians, with 
his indifference to the truth, he had entered a state of 
spiritual deadness which had brought on with it a sort 
of stupor of mind and carelessness to all that has to do 
with the worship of God in truth. 

At his words his wife started up from her work. 
"Ah, how soon," she said with a sigh. 

At the time our story begins there was a spiritual 
revival at the quiet little place K . The authori- 
ties had been alarmed at the awakening which was 
bringing crowds to the meetings in the recently built 
hall that the villagers had set up for that work. Num- 
bers were being converted in this little village. For 
this cause it was planned by the authorities- to send out 



50 MODERN BAPTIST 

a missionary supported by the Greek Orthodox Church 
to prevent the people attending those Baptist services 
and try to paralyze the power of this teaching which 
was making such an impression on the minds of the 
people. Ivanoff, just then in need of work, had been 
recommended to the authorities for that work. They 
supposed that he as a son of a priest could be reliec 
upon. As he possessed some culture and ability, it was 
thought he could attend to the needed work with de- 
sired results. His appointment had been made some 
time ago and now he had to hurry to the spot, having 
lingered some time, being reluctant to leave the home 

he had so long enjoyed at T . His wife, though 

far from being eager to leave their little abode to which 
she had so long been used, thought it grand that her 
husband should be named for such a high post, to fight 
the accursed sect she had heard so much about. She 
loved the faith of her fathers, never failed to keep th 
sacred lamp burning before her ikon, and liked on 
Sundays and other holidays to make herself smart anc 
go to church. It seemed to her very dreadful to go 
against the faith of her fathers and violate the laws o 
the "Mother Church", as she heard those audacious sec- 
tarians were doing. To study the two characters one 
would have been led to think that Natalia should have 
fulfilled the duties assigned her husband far better, for 
her heart burned with a true zeal for the Church she 
was born in, and it was this zeal which created in her 
energy enough to exchange her cherished home for the 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 51 

more distant, strange and out-of-the-way place without 
murmuring. It was to stand for the "faith of our 
fathers", she said to herself when her husband was com-* 
missioned and this comforted and inspired her. The in- 
difference of TvanofF had been well concealed by the 
efforts of his wife, for she always made him accompany 
her to church whenever she could, and she led him to 
fast and reverently bow before the sacred pictures. In 
this way the true state of his mind was little known. 
He used to play cards and drink and smoke, but that, 
according to the people's views was quite natural, for 
no one in Russia expects more of us than that we shall 
worship God according to the customs and forms of 
our country. 

With some fuss and difficulties due to the change 
of place and transport of things, the couple found 
themselves at last at their destination a short time 
after this. They settled close by the village chosen 
by the Baptists of which there was so much talk. Na- 
talia's heart was burning with indignation against the 
faithful servants of God. Stories had been told to her 
of how they were teaching the people to curse the ikon, 
despise the Church and ignore the traditions of the an- 
cient fathers. She had been taught to regard them as 
heretics. With trembling hands and much eagerness 
she prepared the things for her husband's first visit to 
the heretic village, which was full of the teaching of 
the Baptists. 

"They have their own Testaments," said the neigh- 



52 MODERN BAPTIST 

bors to Natalia. "You must never believe a word of 
what they say. Their Gospel differs from the true one 
sanctioned by our Church." Natalia felt proud that 
her husband was to stand for the faith of their fathers, 
Before he left she told him to be careful not to drink 
too much, that his mind might be clear and his speech 
powerful. She blessed him, making the sign of the 
cross over him as they parted, and long that night did 
6he kneel before her ikons making low bows and re- 
peating half aloud the many prayers she knew by heart 
addressed to the Virgin and saints she was taught to 
worship. Next morning she placed a table before the 
image of St. Nicholas in the church, who she believed 
was able to help her husband. She eagerly awaited 
his return, impatient to hear of his success she was so 
sure of. She prepared a specially good dinner that day, 
and when at length the little cart rolled up, she ran 
out to meet her husband. But Michael Ivanoff looked 
exhausted and not at all as triumphant as she had 
expected. He greeted her rather indifferently, and 
dropped heavily into a chair at the spread out table. 
Natalia was too eager to hear of the news he had to 
bring, to be able to wait until he had finished his meal. 

"Well, how is it?" she asked. "Were you able to 
stop their mouths? Were you able to persuade the 
people not to attend their meetings?" 

"No," answered Michael thoughtfully as he raised 
his hand to his brow and passed his fingers through 
his hair, "I could not do so." 









HEROES AND MARTYRS. 53 

"Why?" asked the amazed wife, as she stood gazing 
at him with wide open eyes full of surprise. 

"They are not at all evil people," grunted the hus- 
band. "There is much truth in what they say." That 
was all Natalia could get from him. He did not seem 
inclined to talk much about the matter, and she saw it 
was no use bothering him. But her curiosity was 
aroused and she decided to go herself to one of these 
meetings, and so she set out one afternoon. When she 
asked her husband to lend her the horse, which he 
willingly agreed to do, he laughed a little at the no- 
tion of her being present in a heretic meeting. At the 
hour appointed for the meeting, Natalia found herself 
at the little village K , before a long wooden build- 
ing which they told her was the hall. She was kindly 
greeted by some women standing outside and welcomed 
into a plain, light room full of wooden seats at the end 
of which was a small elevation with a pulpit stand, on 
which lay a large, well-worn Bible. Some villagers were 
already occupying seats and Natalia was welcomed into 
their midst. There was something bright and pleasing 
about the manners and faces of those who addressed 
themselves to her. 

" 'Tis the first time you have come to us," said one 
of the men. "Place yourself a little nearer so as to 
hear well." The woman obeyed, for something strange 
seemed to have stolen over her — a stillness had crept 
over her soul, and instead of enmity she felt attraction 



54 MODERN BAPTIST 

in her heart. After a time, when the hall was full, the 
preacher, a middle aged man, arose to speak. 

"Jesus Christ came to seek and to save the lost," he 
said. "It was not the righteous, but sinners, He came 
to call to repentance. Those who are whole need no 
physician," and he went on to speak of the tender love 
and mercy of the Savior, who had left His glory on 
high to come and redeem a sinful and perishing world. 
He spoke of the Son of Man walking the streets of 
Jerusalem, healing the sick and the blind, giving the 
water of life to the thirsty souls around Him and raising 
the dead, and then he said that Jesus is the same, yes- 
terday, today and forever; that He is here today seeking 
souls, healing the sick, offering liberty to those who are 
in the fetters of sin. His words were earnest and full 
of power. In the silence of that room Natalia heard 
some repressed sobs, and her own heart seemed melted 
under the influence of the Gospel. She was not like 
Jesus who loved His enemies and died for those who 
hated Him. The Holy Spirit was convicting her of 
sin; she had never come face to face with the Savior; 
she was used to intermediators between God and her- 
self, and it was the first time she had heard of a Savior's 
redeeming love and His finished work on the cross. In 
the light of His word, her own righteousness seemed to 
her as filthy rags. And wonder of wonders, that she, 
who had thought to stand for the faith of her fathers 
and fight the heretics, was convinced that they were 
speaking the truth. After the meeting was over she re- 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 55 

turned home full of troubled thoughts. She felt that the 
teachings she had hitherto been accustomed to were 
lifeless and powerless, and the love for Jesus, her Re- 
deemer, which was filling her heart after she had heard 
of all He had suffered for her, was surpassing the love 
that she thought she possessed for the Church. She got 
her Testament and carefully pondered over the places 
pointed out by the preacher and became convinced that 
her book spoke exactly the same words he had been 
pointing out. She could not go to bed that night, but 
stayed long pondering over the pages of the sacred book 
until the light of the Holy Spirit filled her heart and 
she wept for joy and gratitude for the blood spilled for 
her on Calvary. Her conversion was genuine and 
thorough. It was a stepping out of darkness into perfect 
light, and as she was true to what she believed in her 
ignorance she was as true to the revelation of God. 
With a trembling hand next morning she took down 
the sacred pictures hung up in her room, extinguished 
the lamp she had so carefully kept burning through 
the years and stowed it all away in a dark closet where 
she kept plunder. There was no room for these dead 
ordinances in her heart since she had met the living 
God. She did not stop to consider long about i't, 'as 
she knew her husband was so indifferent to the things 
of God. Her heart was full of joy and she was thinking 
of the time when she could again go to the meeting, 
and she wondered what her husband would say. Strange 
to say she felt afraid to speak to him at once and asked 



56 MODERN BAPTIST 

God to show her how to do so. To her great surprise, 
he got terribly enraged when he discovered she had 
taken the sacred pictures off the walls and extinguished 
the lamp. The man who had seemed so indifferent and 
careless to religion turned into a wild beast. 

"How," he exclaimed furiously, "You are going to 
follow the teaching of these heretics, and going to be- 
come a Baptist like them !" 

"But they speak the truth," she said timidly. 
"You yourself told me they were good people." 

"Yes, yes," he 'answered, "but I did not care about 
it. I never meant to follow them, or see you do so." 

"But you must think of your soul," persisted Na- 
talia earnestly. "If you do not receive the gift of God 
you will die in your sin. God's word says that drunkards 
cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, and you know you 
are often drunk." 

"I'll teach you how~ to preach !" exclaimed the fu- 
rious husband, and snatching the stunned woman by the 
arm, he inflicted a heavy blow on her back. It was 
the first time Natalia had met with such treatment, 
and her heart throbbed, and the tears flowed from her 
eyes. Her husband seemed ashamed of himself and 
moved away. She did not say a word of rebuke, but 
falling on her knees and covering her face with her 
hands, she pleaded aloud to God that He would forgive 
him and make the light shine into his soul as He had 
done into hers. 

"You may ill treat me as you like," she said softly, 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 57 

arising from her knees, "but one thing you may know 
is that I love you and will always pray for you." The 
husband left the room. 

"Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteous- 
ness' sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven," stole 
over the heart of Natalia. She thought Jesus was 
whispering these words to her soul. It was the first 
time she was suffering for Him who had suffered so much 
for her, and she was glad. She could not understand 
how it was that her husband who had been so careless 
and indifferent until now should stand up so for the 
things which used to be dear to her, but which had 
become worthless since she knew there is no mediator 
between man and God hut Jesus Christ. What should 
she do? "Well," she thought, "it will surely go off. 
He will not care about it, and if he comes to the meetings 
he will soon understand the darkness he is in." She 
spoke little that day, but went quietly about her duties 
and was particularly kind to Michael. As they were 
sitting that evening on the doorstep in front of their 
cottage she asked him if he would read the Scriptures 
with her. 

"Get away," said the man angrily, "I do not want 
to hear any more of that. Go and find the ikons and 
hang them up again. I shall have none of this non- 
sense in my house." Natalia rose and went indoors. 
What was she to do? She could not obey her husband's 
orders. She could not worship her idols any more. 
Then she stole away into the little garden behind the 



58 JVEODERN BAPTIST 






house, and there in the bushes on her knees, wept be- 
fore God, praying that He would soften her husband's 
heart and win him to Himself. Meanwhile the husband, 
seeing his orders had not been obeyed, angrily sum- 
moned her and demanded to be shown where the pic- 
tures were, and when Natalia refused to carry out his 
orders and hang up the pictures he hung them up him- 
self, and said he did not want the neighbors to despise 
them. When Natalia refused to light the lamp she 
had formerly so carefully trimmed he again got. into 
a fury and beat her with his cane. And so her bitter 
troubles began. But she stood firm in her faith and 
though kind and good to him, she refused to obey when 
he wanted her to be unfaithful to her God. When she 
was able to steal »away to the meetings she did so, but 
when that was impossible she patiently waited at home, 
reading the Scriptures and praying. One day her hus- 
band threatened to kill her if she would not give up 
her Baptist notions, and after a severe beating so that 
her body was all in bruises and bleeding, he put her into 
a cart and took her to his church along an exceedingly 
rough road so that her aching limbs were painfully 
jerked, inflicting terrible suffering. 

"I shall make you suffer worse," said the criel man, 
"unless you promise to take the holy sacrament when 
I bring you to the priest. Will you do it?" he continued 
harshly, stopping the horse by the road. 

"No," said the faithful servant of God gently, but 
tonly, "you may kill me if you like, but I shall not 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 59 

go back into the darkness. And with all that you may 
know one thing, and that is, that I love you and that 
I pray for you." 

So Michael struck his horse and continued his crue^ 
drive. In spite of all his threats and those of the priest, 
Natalia stood firm and was tiaken home as she had been 
brought. 

Another day when she was driving out with her hus- 
band he threatened to throw her under the wheels of 
an oncoming train if she would not give up her faitl , 
but she meekly replied, "Feel perfectly free to do what- 
ever you like with me, for I cannot leave my Savior, 
but must remain true to Him until the end." x\nd 
every time she would end with the words, "You may 
know that I love you and will always pray for you. ,< 
She was beginning to waste away under the pressure of 
her hardened husband, who seemed bent on bringing 
her back to the Greek Orthodox faith at any cost. 
Whenever Natalia could speak a word for her Savior 
and His saving grace she would be sure to do so. But 
where words could not influence she tried to shine by 
her faithful and pure life, which spoke louder than 
any sermon. 

One night after long meditation and prayer, Na- 
talia crept away from home to see a young preacher 
who had come from some distance to preach in the little 
village. She h'ad learned from the Word of God and 
from what she had heard from his faithful servant that 
we must repent, believe and be baptized. The Scriptures 



60 MODERN BAPTIST 

were so plain on this point that there was no question in 
her mind about the matter. She must obey God's com- 
mand to the full, and though she knew her husband 
would be very angry, she decided to be baptized. So 
it was to this young preacher she went to tell of her 
conviction, and the brave man, in spite of all the danger 
of the case, was faithful to his calling. In the stillness 
of that night in the waters of the little river which 
flowed through that region, Natalia was baptized. After 
that she seemed to grow braver than ever, having 
realized that she was dead and buried with her Savior 
and must now live the resurrection life, looking for- 
ward to the prize beyond. I need not tell you how fu- 
rious her husband was when he learned what she had 
done. He vowed he would kill the young minister who 
dared to perform the ceremony, and for a long time it 

was dangerous for brother V to appear in these 

parts of the country, and whenever he came he risked his 
life, but this did not prevent him from serving his 
Master faithfully and continue brave in fulfilling His 
commands. 

Jesus, in the meantime, was seeking Michael the 
same as He had been seeking Natalia, and through the 
instrumentality of this holy woman He was breaking 
that hard, dead heart. As he would not give in to the 
word of love the Lord had to use hard blows. After 
some time under the influence of this cruel treatment, 
Natalia got severely ill, and only then Michael seemed 
to understand what he had done. His conscience was 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 61 

rebuking him, and he felt miserable. The dying wo 
man never murmured, nor complained, nor rebuked 
him. She had always a word of love and gentleness. 
And thus she passed away after much suffering, leaving 
a ray of light behind 'her and a message that would 
never die. The influence of her life could not be lost.. 
.Michael was left alone and often would it seem to him 
that he heard the gentle words of his wife, telling him 
the story of Jesus' love and her figure would rise before 
him. To dispel this vision he took to drink and began 
living a loose life, until his parents became alarmed 
and thought that they must find him a wife who would 
keep him in hand and put him right. And he did 
marry and thought he would be happy now, forgetting 
all the past. He thought he would pray much and go to 
church and fast as he used to, but this gave him no 
peace. But what was most grievous, he could not. get 
on with his new wife. She was never satisfied ; she made 
the home quite unattractive to him and the unhappy 
man would often try to steal away. He found no satis- 
faction in the rites of his Church and no comfort in 
his home, so he decided he would try and seek for both 
in the meetings of the Baptists hitherto despised by him 
but so much loved by his Natalia. And so he went in 
there among the children of God, and his heart seemed 
to find satisfaction; the living Word of God seemed to 
suit his spirit and he learned to love the people lie had 
cursed before. Ah, how he regretted that he had not 
come before and spared himself the loss of his tender 



62 MODERN BAPTIST 

wife. Often and often, in the moments of anguish, 
he seemed to hear her gentle voice saving, "One thing 
yon may know, I love yon and am praying for yon/* 
How different to the wife he now has, and he seemed 
to understand the power of the life that had passed 
away. He seemed to realize that all these years he had 
been giving himself an instrument into the hands of 
Satan, and he was bitterly ashamed to think he was the 
cause of so much sorrow and suffering to his Natalia. 
He learned to love the Gospel which Natalia had left 
behind her, and often in the quiet of the evening he 
would muse over its pages, and the words of life began 
to burn their way through to his heart. But it takes 
time to melt a hardened heart, and the Lord had need 
of patience and longsuffering in the case of Michael. 
It was his turn now to suffer from a cross woman, who 
was without any inclination toward spiritual things. She 
was always grumbling, bustling about, beginning her 
morning by a horrid prayer before the ikon, or no pray- 
er at all, perfectly indifferent to the Word of God that 
she so often saw in the hands of Michael, angry when 
she heard of his going to the meetings, never having 
a kind word for him and much less for the neighbors 
with whom she liked to gossip. And so Michael was 
being driven to seek salvation. If he had net put off 
go long he would have spared himself much sorrow. But 
his hardened and indifferent heart seemed to have 
needed the school through which he was passing. He 
had rejected the mercies of God, he had now to taste 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. ■ 63 

the bitter cup of suffering, and it was this suffering 
that was revealing the Savior's atoning love. 

He was broken down at last in one of the meetings 
and gave his heart to Jesus with bitter tears of repent- 
ance for all the past, and learned to follow his Savior 
as faithfully as Natalia did. He learned to preaoh the 
message to others and boldly carried salvation to all 
those around in spite of the many and bitter persecu- 
tions which arose around him. And so the little village 

K has been the means of bringing many souls to 

Jesus, and the little Baptist community is prospering 
and growing in numbers until this day. 

MADAM M. YASNOVSKY^nee von Kruse) , 
St. Petersburg, Russia. 



THE NOVOTNYS OF PRAGUE, THE SUCCESSORS 

OF HUSS. 

Bohemia, in one respect at least, reminds us of that 
city described by John in the Revelation, the city sur- 
rounded by a wall great and high, and which lieth 
foursquare. - To look at Bohemia on the m{ap is to see 
that the great and high mountains which shut it in 
almost make a perfect square, with one angle pointing 
almost directly to the north, another to the south, 
another to the east and another to the west. This square 
granite fence lets its bars down at only one point, to- 
ward the southeast, where there is *a narrow opening into 
Moravia, and it encloses a country of twenty thousand 
square miles, about one-half the size of Kentucky. Near 
the center of this beautiful square is the city of Prague. 

Prague, a city of over a half million people, lies 
picturesquely on both banks of the Moldau. My first 
view of the city by night was enchanting. Strolling 
through the park which overlooks the river spanned by 
massive ancient bridges I could see the huge outline of 
what appeared to be castles or palaces on the other side. 
I could hear a band playing in the distance. The morn- 
ing did not dissipate the spell of the evening. Prague 
unites a European solidity with an Asiatic splendor. 



66 MODERN BAPTIST 

Its heights are imposing with domes and spires and 
turrets; its riversides lovely with trees and promenades. 
The streets present alternations of medieval arches and 
towers,, with splendid modern shops. No city outside of 
Italy lays stronger hold on the imagination or more 
binds the memory than "hundred-towered, golden 
Prague." The heart is stirred with thoughts of the 
Thirty Years-' War which started and stopped here, of 
Jerome, of Ziska, of the Bohemian Brethren and of 
Huss. Although ages of persecution, suffering, violence 
and exile stretch between, John Huss must nevertheless 
be recognized as the forerunner of the present evangel- 
ical movement in Bohemia. A knowledge of him and of 
the history he made is necessary, therefore, to a true 
understanding of existing conditions. 

Huss and Prague are names indissolubly linked to- 
gether. In the early years of the fifteenth century there 
was no man so popular in Prague as John Huss, Rector 
of the University, Confessor to the Queen, and the 
eloquent Preacher of Bethlehem Chapel. Bethlehem 
Chapel was a preaching place built by private citizens 
of Prague who, weary of Latin masses and music and 
full of the growing national spirit, wanted a place where 
they could hear popular Biblical preaching in the Bo- 
hemian tongue which could not be heard in the churches 
and cathedrals where Latin and German were the only 
languages. 

The responsibilities of his position as preacher of 
Bethlehem Chapel were to get Huss into trouble some 








JOSEPH NOVOTNY. 



:67; 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 69 

day. Bethlehem mieans a a house of bread." The men 
of Prague wanted bread. They were sick of husks, of 
masses mumbled by unintelligible priests. Where shall 
he find bread to break to the hungry people? He is led 
to an earnest study of the Scriptures and of Wiclif's 
writings. At first he had been prejudiced against Wiclif, 
but the more he read him the more he found himself in 
agreement with him. He translated his writings and 
commended them to the people. 

Then the trouble began to brew. The Council of 
the University of Prague declared the writings of Wiclif 
heretical and issued orders that no one was to teach 
or maintain them either in private or in public. Huss, 
who was characterized more by fearlessness and passion 
for the truth than by even his learning and eloquence, 
refused to obey the order, and started on tfhe rugged 
road that would lead him to the fire by and 'by. 

The first definite rupture between Huss and the Ro- 
man Catholic Church was brought on by his attitude 
toward the papacy. Wiclif's watchword had been, "Back 
to the Bible." The watchword of Huss became, "Back 
to Christ." He said that Jesus Christ was the head of 
the church, and he insisted that priests and prelates and 
popes and all earthly mediators must stand out of the 
way that the sinner might through Christ alone, the 
one Mediator, have access to God. From the pulpit of 
Bethlehem Chapel he began to raise his eloquent voice 
against the avarice and arrogance, the greed, licentious- 
ness and corruption of the Roman ecclesiastics and to 



70 MODERN BAPTIST 

denounce their traffic in holy "things, the sale of indul- 
gences and pardons. 

Then there was a howl. Monks, priests and bishops 
united in the hoarse chorus: "Heresy, heresy! Down 
with him! He is a devil incarnate, a heretic." A bull 
from the pope forbade Huss to preach in Bethlehem 
Chapel, and the archbishop of Prague proceeded to 
issue a solemn and formal excommunication against the 
heretic Huss and his adherents. 

Huss was not to be silenced so easily. He had a higher 
Master than the archbishop of Prague or the arch-fiend 
(no finer title is applicable to Pope John XXIII) at 
Rome. He went right on preaching at Bethlehem 
Chapel, and the people flocked to hear their hero in even 
greater numbers than before. As many as ten thousand 
are stated to have been present sometimes, made up of 
royalty, nobility, students and citizens. 

Then things hurried to a crisis. The sentence of 
excommunication which had been passed upon Huss by 
the archbishop was renewed by the pope,- and Prague 
was put under the interdict. 

Huss bowed to the thunderstorm not for a moment. 
Like Wiclif he believed that no man could be excom- 
municated unless he had first excommunicated himself. 
But the city, his beloved Prague that had harbored him 
so long, was suffering on his account. So for the sake 
of the city he took himself away. 

His exile from Prague had another result than the 
pope and his minions intended. It contributed to the 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 71 

spread rather than the suppression of his views. Never 
should the voice of Huss be heard again from the Beth- 
lehem pulpit, but the "heretic" had the woods, "God's 
first temples." He had the sky-domed fields. He became 
a fire-filled evangelist. His power was multiplied. The 
people streamed to hear him from every quarter. His 
influence went out to the ends of Bohemia, He lighted 
his bonfires all over the land, bonfires destined to make 
a mighty conflagration. And there, under God's clear 
sky, the truth came to him in fuller measure. Christ 
became all in all to him. "Back to Christ," he cried 
with more emphasis than ever. And the people were 
astonished at his doctrine, for he spoke as one having 
authority, and not as the priests. And in the market- 
place, on the street, on the highway the people repeated 
his burning words. 

Then came the end. Huss was summoned to the 
Council of Constance. He wrote a farewell letter to the 
Bohemian people whom he loved so well, and intrepidly 
set his face toward Constance. The tigers were waiting 
for him. They played with their prey for a few weeks, 
then showed their claws. After months of confinement 
in a loathesome cell having the dimensions of a grave, 
the dungeon doors were opened, and John Huss, emaci- 
ated, broken in health, was dragged before his judges. 
Broken in health, but unbroken in spirit. There was 
the travesty of a trial. Judges there were, but no justice. 
He would not recant. Let them glare as they will and 
spit their venom as they may, but how could John Huss 



72 MODERN BAPTIST 

recant? He was pronounced "a manifest heretic," They 
went through the childish mummery of degrading him 
from the priesthood. This was followed by a proclama- 
tion commending his body to the flamjes and his soul 
to the devil. And so this humble seeker of truth, grop- 
ing for a clearer vision of God, found his way into that 
High Presence through the martyr's fire on July 6, 
1415, on the forty-sixth anniversary of his birth. 

"They do not fall who die in a great cause. 

The block may soak their gore ; 
Their heads may sodden in the sun; 

Their limbs be strung to the city gates 
Or castle walls; but still 

Their spirits walk abroad." 

When Huss voice was hushed it did not sink into 
eternal silence. It has gone on thundering through all 
the years since. His cry for liberty and pure religion 
is still heard on earth, and shall go on being heard until 
every shackle is broken, and the Christ, whose echo he 
was, shall have made all men free and all worship pure. 

Huss appealed to the Bible as the only authority in 
religion ; believed in the sole headship of Christ over the 
church; taught the priesthood of all believers; and re- 
jected most of the sacramental system of the Roman 
Church. His message found a prepared soil. The Bo- 
hemians had the Scriptures in their own language. The 
Bible published in Prague in 1487 was "the first instance 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 73 

on record of the application of the newly invented art 
of printing to the multiplication of the Scriptures in a 
living tongue." Huss' followers became even more evan- 
gelical than he was and multiplied until all Bohemia 
was radiant with the promise of leading the world back 
to primitive Christianity. 

More than a century before the historical Reforma- 
tion under Luther and Calvin, the new faith in Bohemia 
had become vital enough to send a missionary to Scot- 
land, Paul Craw, who there gained the crown of mar- 
tyrdom. On the parched desert of the middle ages 
sprang up the beautiful blossom of the "Unity of Bo- 
hemian Brethren." The Bohemian Brethren were Bap- 
tists in nearly every essential, differing chiefly in church 
organization. 

After this hopeful beginning of the fifteenth cen- 
tury came the disastrous Thirty Years' War, followed 
by storms of hate and bloody persecution for ages. It 
is an old saying now that "the blood of the martyrs 
is the seed of the church." The history of Bohemia 
affords a notable exception to this rule. The evangelical 
faith was well-nigh extinguished by fire, sword, scaffold 
and exile. The Jesuits of Austria made the nation 
Roman Catholic again. Bohemia was stripped of the 
glorious results of its past, and robbed of the best possi- 
bilities of its future. The systematic uprooting of Protest- 
antism, which has its parallel only in the story of the 
Huguenots, reduced the population of Bohemia from 
three million to eight hundred thousand. The Jesuits 



74 MODERN BAPTIST 

did their work so well that this "cradle of the Reforma- 
tion" is today regarded, with Austria proper, as the last 
great European stronghold of the papacy. 

The Second Reformation. 

In spite of the storms of centuries a "hidden seed" 
survived consisting of such who cherished the writings 
of Huss and Com emus, and who secretly perpetuated 
their faith by implanting in their children loyalty to 
the Bohemian Bible. From this kernel we are now 
witnessing a new evangelical growth. On the ruins of 
the old Bohemian Brethren movement is founded our 
Baptist work in Bohemia. 

True, Rome still keeps up her ancient intolerance. 
Our people can meet legally only for "family worship'." 
No Sunday school is allowed. To distribute the Bible is 
forbidden. To give away a tract is to transgress the 
law. Baptisnits are illegal, and have been attended by 
the whistling of shots, fired by concealed gendarmes. 

Yet, in defiance of the law, in spite of every obstacle, 
our cause is growing. The first Baptist church in Prague 
was founded twenty-five years ago by Henry Novotny, 
and he is still pastor. There are now in Prague three 
Baptist preaching places and in all Bohemia twenty. 
Hundreds of Bibles are sold and thousands of tracts 
distributed every year. 

Henry Novotny, the modern apostle of Bohemia, is 
a man of rare simplicity of spirit and of finest culture. 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 75 

He is a pure Ceeh and was born in a village near 
Prague, in 1846. A devout Catholic until his twentieth 
year, he was then brought under the influence of the 
Presbyterian mission in Prague. Within a few months 
after his conversion he heard the call to preach the 
Gospel to his fellow-countrymen. Under the impulse of 
this impression he proceeded to Basle, in Switzerland, 
where he spent four years in the Presbyterian college, 
afterwards taking a further course in the Free Church 
College in Edinburgh. On his return home he became 
pastor of the Reformed church in Prague. But, as with 
Oncken of Germany and Nilson of Sweden, the Scrip- 
tures were too much for him. So in 1885 Henry No- 
votny resigned his church, journeyed to Lodz, in Russian 
Poland, and was there baptized by Rev. Charles Ondra. 
Returning to Prague he began to preach and influence 
people until sixteen were baptized and a Baptist church 
was constituted. Gradually the work has spread under 
the influence of our brother's self-denying ministry un- 
til in more than thirty towns there are now m'embers 
of Baptist churches in Bohemia. The church established 
in Prague has lost many by emigration to America, 
but still has about two hundred and fifty members. Ten 
preachers have gone forth from this church to shine as 
stars in dark places. 

Now that his natural force is abating through hard- 
ships connected with pioneering in a bitterly hostile 
land, it is gratifying to Mr. Novotny to know that his 
mantle is falling upon the shoulders of his son. 



76 MODERN BAPTIST 

Joseph Novotny is the youngest child of Henry No- 
votny, and was baptized by his father in 1897 when the 
lad was but eleven years of age. Joseph is a remarkably 
gifted young man. Not yet over twenty-five years old, 
he has taken courses in our Baptist colleges in Hamburg 
and in Nottingham, and has studied in the universities 
of Vienna, Prague and Geneva. He has recently been 
going through his own country and adjacent regions 
doing the work of an evangelist, and has been greatly 
used. 

The fiery speech, the zealous spirit and the attractive 
personality of Joseph Novotny won all hearts at the 
Baptist World Alliance in Philadelphia, He told several 
incidents which may serve to show that the old Hussite 
spirit is not yet dead, and that the choked wells are 
being dug out. 

In one village some friends began to read the Bible 
and to pray. They gathered themselves together every 
Sabbath. One man came from a village a day's journey 
with a little piece of bread as his only sustenance, and 
asked to be allowed to read a little in the Bible, that he 
might learn the truth by heart to tell his neighbors in 
the village, because there was no Bible there. When 
the authorities heard of this they hailed the people be- 
fore the Justice of the peace. The Justice asked them 
"What do you want? Are you dissatisfied with your 
church? Are you not satisfied with the priests? What 
is the matter?" The answer came all unexpectedly, "We 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 77 

are dissatisfied with ourselves. Here in this Book is our 
only guide and our only hope for satisfaction." 

Joseph Novotny's sister was a missionary in the 
Prague church and she told her brother one day that 
she had been visiting an old sick woman in the darkest 
part of Prague. She told her about Jesus and what she 
ought to do if she would be happy. The old woman 
arose and said, "Oh, I know it already. Look here ! Here 
is my Bible. I read it." Miss Novotny was astonished to 
see a Bible in the hand of a Catholic woman. ''Tell 
me, how did you get this Book?" she asked. "Oh, it is 
a long story," said the sick woman. "Seven years ago I 
had two boys, but they were very bad boys, indeed, es- 
pecially the older one. He took away every penny and 
left it in the public house. All at once there was a 
change in his life. I did not know how it came. He 
said he used to go to certain meetings, and he learned 
there to pray and sing. He brought home this Book in 
which he regularly read. And then he entered the public 
house no more. My neighbors told me I could be a 
happy mother. I think God must have given him a new 
brain. I could not read the Bible then, and so he read 
it aloud. But soon he became ill, and so he could not 
go to the meetings. His illness was very serious. One 
day he told me he knew he must die, but he did not 
fear death. He sang and prayed and read the Bible; 
and in a few days he died. After his death the younger 
brother took this Book and read in it, and went regularly 
to the Sunday school. The priest soon knew that his 



78 MODERN BAPTIST 

pupil went to the Sunday school, and he said that the 
boy spoke as 'a heretic' of the religious instruction re- 
ceived there. The priest punished the lad with a stick, 
imprisoned him in a dark chamber, and then asked him 
if he would go to the heretical Sunday school again. The 
little disciple of Christ said he could not help it ; he would 
go again. Then the priest became so wild that he threw 
his scholar against the fireplace. The boy broke several 
ribs. He came home and became very sick, and died in a 
short time/ 5 "But how did he die?" said the old woman, 
with tears in her eyes, "With this Book on his breast, 
with peace, telling me about Jesus, died my dear son. 7 ' 
"May I die as he," closed the happy woman her story. 
Was this little boy not a hero, a martyr, even as John 
Huss, or Jerome, of Prague? 

The fact is that Romanism is not growing among 
the Bohemians. Outwardly it is active, but in reality 
it is disintegrating and losing its power. The better 
part of" the Bohemian nation is tired of Catholicism. 
They have had experience of its religious emptiness. 
The towns and the educated people are even more ac- 
cessible than the country. Henry Novotny has recently 
baptized a famous actress from the National Theatre, in 
Prague, and a_ brilliant young nobleman, a graduate 
in honors of the university. 

The faith of the Baptists is congenial to the people. 
The Baptist preacher is greatly advantaged in that he 
can appeal to the glorious past of the nation. Its splen- 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 79 

did deeds and heroic persons have been penetrated with 
the Baptist spirit. 

Here, then, is one of our great opportunities on the 
continent, none greater. Could sufficient preachers and 
workers be supplied no bounds might be set to the work 
that could be done. The resources of Bohemian Bap- 
tists are pitifully unequal to their task. If the needs are 
to be met they must be supplied by American and Brit- 
ish Baptists. Occasionally help has come from English 
and Polish -friends, but in altogether inadquate measure 
to establish the work over so large an area. Surely the 
nation which incomparably more than any other has 
suffered for the Gospel and for freedom of conscience 
shall not look to us in vain. 

The present pressing necessity is for a meeting house 
in Prague. The Baptists of Prague pay an exorbitant 
rent for a small hall. By sacrificial efforts they have 
secured a lot historically related to the reformed faith, 
on which they hoped to build a "Huss House" to cost 
not less than ten thousand dollars. Is it not well for the 
Baptists of Bohemia thus to link their work on to that of 
this noble martyr with whom they hold so much in com- 
mon? And should not we, who share in their heritage, 
have a part in it? One of Longfellow's poems is founded 
on an old legend that the city of Prague was once 
besieged by an army of evil spirits, but when the ca- 
thedral bell sounded the hour of prayer, the prayers of 
the saints were mightier than the evil spirits, and the 



SO MODERN BAPTIST 

besieging army stole away. May this legend prove pro- 
phetic of the triumphs of the "Huss House." 

On July 6, 1915, the Bohemians will celebrate the 
five hundredth anniversary of the martyrdom of John 
Huss, who is again becoming the national hero. We 
share with his spiritual descendants in Bohemia in 
cherishing the hope that the memorable occasion will 
touch the conscience of the nation and rekindle the 
torch that for centuries was nearly extinguished. 
Henry Alford Porter, D.D., 

Louisville, Ky. 



WILLIAM FETLER. 

"Baptist!" 

"Son of a heretic!" 

"Deceiver 1" 

The hoy at whom the words were shouted heard 
them, and his slender form straightened and he held 
his head high and his gray eyes flashed. It was nothing 
unusual for this crowd of idle boys and others whom 
he passed on the streets to speak to him in scorn and 
to point their fingers at him and laugh at him, but it 
had never ceased to hurt the proud and sensitive spirit 
of the lad. When he reached his home and closed the 
door, the hot tears came. It made him angry that they 
should hate his falther, who was the best man in the 
village, kind to his family and always ready to help any 
of his neighbors who were in trouble. He remembered 
as his anger began to cool, how his father alwiays told 
him to be kind, and to love those who tormented him, 
and never to speak to them in anger. 

The boy was William Fetler and his father, Andreas 
Fetler, was pastor of the Baptist church in the little 
village of Tuckutm, Russia. William was born at Talsen, 
in Courland, not far from the Baltic Sea; but before 
he could remember, his father moved with his family 



82 MODERN BAPTIST 

to Tuckum. Here William went to the public school 
where he learned readily, but where he had many un- 
happy hours on account of the belief of his father, who 
read the Bible and believed it, and broke with the State 
church and preached the Bible doctrines to the people. 

While he was still a young boy the Lord spoke to 
William and he gave his heart to Him and wished to 
follow Him in baptism. He knew what it meant to 
be baptized. He remembered that when his father bap- 
tized the first converts in the town, the people followed 
them to the river, threw the clothes of the men and 
women into the water, calling them "dirt" and "de- 
ceivers," and laughed and jeered, asking them how 
much they were being paid for being baptized. They 
threw stones at them as they went down into the water, 
and became so violent that some of the believers took 
refuge in the home of a sympathetic baron nearby. The 
angry mob gathered about the baron's home threatening 
his life as well as that of the Baptists, saying they would 
burn his home if he did not deliver the believers to 
them. But God took care of his own and no harm 
came to them nor to the good baron. When these be- 
lievers had gone to the baron's home, Andreas Fetler 
with others of the brethren and sisters went back to the 
meeting house, thinking there they would be safe, but 
they were followed and large stones came crashing 
through the windows. William had seen those stones 
many times for they were piled up in a corner of the 
meeting house. 




WILLIAM FETLER. 



(83) 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 



85 



After this first time the baptisms were conducted at 
night and under many difficulties. On the night that 
William was baptized it was planned that they should 
meet at a certain place on the river bank which was 
suitable. When it was quite dark the little party stole 
out through the woods to this place, and what was their 
surprise and chagrin to find that the enemies of the 
faith had heard of the coming ceremony, and had pre- 
ceded them to the place to prevent it. So they passed 
quickly and noiselessly on, going much further into the 
woods and passing through damp and muddy ways, 
found another place deep in the forest. They lost no 
time in the ceremony for they were ever expecting to 
hear the jeers and laughter of their persecutors. 

After this, when William would appear on the 
streets, and the boys and others would cry, "Baptist, 
Baptist," they failed to make the boy angry, or to hurt 
his feelings, for now that he had the love of the Savior, 
in his heart he counted it a joy to suffer for Him. 

William was a great help and comfort to his father 
in his work. When a lad of fifteen he would gather the 
young people together for singing and prayer, and often 
he would teach them poetry and special songs and 
would give entertainments for the amusement and good 
of the town. Many of these young people were saved 
through these meetings. He was always busy. When 
not helping with the Sunday school work or with the 
young people, he was reading or studying. He loved 



86 MODERN BAPTIST 

poetry and in his spare time wrote many excellent 
verses. 

At sixteen he left home to take a position as a book- 
keeper in a bicycle store in Riga. There he went to 
work again among the young people and took a great 
interest in the Sunday school. Soon after his coming 
he was made president of the Young People's Society 
and his earnestness and zeal were remarkable. Under 
his influence a paper was published regularly to which 
the young people contributed and which did much good. 
During four years spent in Riga a purpose grew steadily 
in the mind and heart of William Fetler to give his 
life to preaching the Gospel; his plan being to study 
for several years in London and then go to China as a 
missionary. He went to Spurgeon's college for four 
years. During his stay in England freedom of faith 
came to his home land and he at once decided to go back 
and preach the Gospel among his own people for whom 
his heart was yearning. This was a direct answer to the 
prayer of Mr. Carter, president of the Pioneer Mission- 
ary Society, who had been praying for a preacher to take 
the Gospel to Russia, and who, when William Fetler 
entered the college, said to himself, "This is the man 
for Russia." 

For about a year after Mr. Fetler's return to Russia 
he went from place to place, preaching the Gospel and 
baptizing many believers. But his heart turned toward 
the great city of St. Petersburg, where there was no 
Russian Baptist church and he went there and found a 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 8? 

little Lettish church to which he began to preach. Hia 
sermons drew many Russians, and soon the hall where 
the Lettish church had been meeting was crowded out 
and they rented a larger hall. More and more the con- 
gregations became Russian, and many Russians were 
converted until they were so strong that they left the 
Lettish and formed a church of their own, with Mr. 
Fetler as pastor. 

Several years before Mr. Fetler came to St. Peters- 
burg, there. was a little company of believers, who did 
not call themselves Baptists, but who would mteet secret- 
ly, gathering one at a time, at the home of one of the 
believers. They accepted the New Testament as they 
found it and were immersed. Some of these came to 
the meetings when they were held in the Russian Bap- 
tist church, and Mr. Fetler recognized them as fellow 
believers and learned that they had been immersed. His 
home was in the house of Princess Lieven. It was there 
he came to know the believers and they to know of his 
work and belief. Many of them joined the Baptist 
church and were given at once special work to do. Mr. 
Fetler always emphasized the fact that when one was 
converted it was not only for his own personal salvation 
but that it was his business to work for others, trying 
to lead them to the Savior. Members of his church are 
all evangelists, preaching the Gospel to those they meet 
on the streets, in the cars, and they preach the Gospel 
most effectively by living it daily before their neighbors. 

Soon the hall grew too small and other preaching 



88 MODERN BAPTIST 



stations were opened in every corner of the city, over 
which members of his church preside. Preaching ser- 
vices are held in one of them each night of the week 
and Pastor Fetler preaches in the main hall almost every 
night also. 

Mr. Fetler is very fond of children and has gathered 
many of them into his Sunday schools, which are called 
children's services, and large numbers of these have 
been saved. 

One of the most interesting phases of his work was 
his midnight meetings at which were gathered from the 
streets of the city those who were deep in sin. At times 
the hall would be crowded w^ith these people who had 
been invited by the believers to come to the hall. There 
would be a service from eight until ten o'clock for be- 
lievers only and then these men and women would go 
out on the street and begin with one or two, telling them 
of the Savior and His love for them, and soon a crowd 
would gather and tactfully they would be led to the 
hall where Pastor Fetler would begin the meeting 
promptly at midnight. Many have been the remarkable 
conversions of these men and women of the streets and 
their changed lives have preached many powerful ser- 
mons. 

One young girl was brought into the meetings and 
after the service came forward and gave herself to God. 
She showed Pastor Fetler a letter which she had in her 
pocket. It was a farewell to her friends and acquaint- 
ances. She had meant to commit suicide that very 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 89 

night. When she entered the church her heart was hard 
and as the preacher said, "You are all sinners/' she 
pointed mockingly to herself and said laughingly, "I 
a sinner." But the spirit of God touched her hard 
heart and when the pastor gave the invitation for those 
who wished to be prayed for, hers was the first hand 
raised and the tears were in her eyes as she came and 
gave herself to God. She left her life of sin and went 
to the home of one of the believers. 

It was inconvenient to be always driven about from 
one hall to another, paying rent and never feeling set- 
tled. So it entered Pastor Fetler's heart to build a 
prayer house which would be adequate to the needs and 
would reflect credit upon the Baptists of St. Petersburg. 
The church was unanimous and enthusiastic in their 
support of this building and all the members gave all 
and much more than they were able. Many of the 
members and some of the sympathizers gave their gold 
rings, and bracelets, and watches, and some even had 
the gold rims taken off their spectacles and steel put on 
that the gold might go into the building of the house 
of prayer. . So the dream of Pastor Fetler began to take 
shape and in September, 1910, the cornerstone of a 
magnificent building was laid on a beautiful site near 
the center of the city. 

Mr. Fetler was present in Philadelphia and by his 
dignity and earnestness won the hearts of American 
Baptists. But he had trouble getting away from Russia. 
The St. Petersburg authorities would readily have given 



90 MODERN BAPTIST 

him permission to come, but shortly before leaving for 
Philadelphia, he went to Moscow, preached and made 
some converts. When the authorities there found that 
he was planning to come to the Baptist World Alliance, 
he was put under arrest and a passport was refused him. 
Through the intervention of his friends high in au- 
thority at St. Petersburg, a concession was made. A 
passport would be granted if he deposited five thousand 
roubles (about two thousand, five hundred dollars) as 
bail for his appearance in the fall. This concession was 
not meant to concede anything, as it seemed improbable 
that a poor preacher should be able to give such a large 
bond. But on hearing the conditions the London head- 
quarters of the Alliance at once telegraphed half the 
amount and the Russian Evangelical Society furnished 
the other half. Then an old charge of several years' 
standing was hunted up, a charge of winning converts 
from the Greek church, and another arrest was ordered. 
He was warned and cleared across the border just two 
hours ahead of the secret police. 

He said of his work in St. Petersburg: 
"By the grace of God I began Russian Baptist work 
at St. Petersburg now nearly four years ago. The spirit 
of God has been working mightily in our midst ever 
since. We have baptized during this time over four 
hundred at the Capital and some other places, where 
we have been preaching the unsearchable riches of 
Christ. Over a thousand have been registered at St. 
Petersburg for our Saturday night meeting for believers. 









HEROES AND MARTYRS. 91 

Such a spirit of unabating eagerness to know more about 
God is among the people, that we hold meetings every 
night during the year, winter and summer. In summer 
months, though it is not so hot with us as in the States, 
yet the halls get so crowded with people, that sometimes 
it is almost impossible to speak. In a letter received the 
other day from one of my workers, I am informed, that 
just now the atmosphere in our meetings is as it were 
electrified with heat, because of the crowds of people, and 
compressed air. But they rather undergo that than 
stay away from hearing the Word of God. I have a 
preachers' training class where some forty of my lay 
preachers and helpers, converts themselves, learn how to 
tell others the good news. Also a number of Sunday 
schools and young people's societies have been formed. 

"In view of the great need to work among the edu- 
cated classes, I have started a Thursday night lecture for 
the students of St. Petersburg University and High 
Schools. Both men and lay students have been attending 
these lectures in large numbers and with growing in- 
terest. Several have been converted who are now help- 
ing to spread the Gospel among their fellow-students. 
The work has been developing in the city and neigh- 
borhood, until now we have about a dozen hired halls 
for the Gospel work. For many months already we 
have been facing with anxiety the problem, where to 
gather the crowds willing to hear of Jesus. 

"We have bought, by permission of the czar, a lot 
of land, and have started to build a large prayer house, 



92 



MODERN BAPTIST 



to hold over two thousand people. We have the Taber- 
nacle half-way up and Ebenezer, thus far the Lord has 
helped us ! But now every kopek has been spent. Per- 
sonally, I have put everything I could in the work; 
health and time, strength and weakness, and all my 
money, and over that some fifteen thousand roubles, or 
about seven thousand, five hundred dollars, which sum 
I borrowed on my responsibility. The building has 
been stopped for lack of funds. 'Wait/ said we, 'we shall 
go over to our great American brothers, vast in numbers 
and limitless in resources, and they, no doubt, will 
gladly finish what we have begun, to put up the First 
Baptist Prayer House in the capital of Russia.' " 

In the following lines Mr. Fetler voices his country's 
cry: 

The Cry of Russia. 

Will you listen to the cry of Russia? 

Will you hearken as her" children weep? 
They are hungry — but the fields are barren, 

They are thirsty, and the well is deep. 

Yea, and deep in sin their soul is sunken, 

Miry clay, foundation for their feet. 
Ages came and went, but no glad footsteps 

No one came whose heart would warmer beat. 



And they suffered till their chains grew rusty, 
And they waited till their eyes grew dim, 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 93 

When for life in very death despairing 
Of a sudden they were told of Him. 

Him who suffered long before, and for them, 
Him who waited long for their return ; 

And as Russia's children heard their Shepherd's Story, 
How they wept for joy, and hearts within did burn I 

And they clung to Him as loving child to mother, 

And again to suffer they began. 
Now, however, smiling in their exile, 

And in chains they praised the Son of Man. 

Chains at last are broken ; distant exile places 
By the Cross are changed to Christian homes. 

And the Word is preached throughout the mighty em- 
pire, 
Both in peasant huts and in the princely domes. 

They are waiting, Russia's millions, waiting, 

Only a few are freed by Christ as yet. 
Who will go, and who will help the going? 
Hasten then, before the sun is set 

■ — 'Sadie Starke, 

Louisville, Ky. 



VASILIA PAVLOFF. 

(An Autobiography.) 

My home is in the city of Tiflis, the metropolis of 
Transcaucasia, Russia. My parents belonged to Molo- 
kani, a sect akin to the Quakers. Into Tinis the Baptist 
faith was brought by a German artisan, Martin Kalueit. 
who baptized the first Russian convert, a merchant, Ni- 
kita Voronin ; the last gathered a small congregation of 
believers that consisted of seventy-eight souls in 1870. In 
the same year I was converted through the grace of God 
and joined with this church. I was sixteen years old. Im- 
mediately after my conversion I began to witness about 
Christ and had joy to see the first fruit of my labor 
in conversion of a couple. After a short time the elder 
brethren caused me to preach in meetings. 

In 1875 I went to Hamburg, Germany, in order 
to get more knowledge of the Word of God and Baptist 
church polity, where I remained about a year. At that 
time there was only a missionary school with a six 
months' course, but arriving in Hamburg I found there 
no more school in that year. It was my privilege to 
make the acquaintance of the founder of the German 
Baptist churches, late Rev. J. G. Oncken, who took 



96 MODERN BAPTIST 

interest in me and instructed a preacher, P, Willrath, 
to give me lessons in German and tiheology. In 1.876 ] 
was ordained by J. G. Oncken as a missionary and re- 
turned home to Tiflis. 

On my arrival home I found the church increased 
in numbers, it having forty members, among whom were 
my parents, who joined with the church in my absence. 
At this time we enjoyed yet of the religious liberty and 
I preached the Gospel to hundreds of souls that fre- 
quented our congregations. 

In the autumn of the same year I made a long jour- 
ney with Br. S. Rodionaff together, in mountains of 
Transcaucasia as far as the Mount of Ararat and Caspian 
Sea, baptizing believers and laying foundation of many 
churches among the Molokani. In 1880 I was even recog- 
nized by the government as a Baptist pastor. This 
freedom we enjoyed until 1887. In this period I. un- 
dertook many prolonged missionary journeys to distant 
governments as Samara, Don, Tourida Mohiley and 
other places where I also preached the glad tidings and 
baptized many persons who built a nucleus for the future 
churches. In 1884 the known Colonel Pushkoff con- 
vened us to a congress in St. Petersburg that aimed to 
unite all believers in Russia at which among others were 
present Dr. Baedecker and Lord Ratcliff, but the par- 
takers of this congress among whom I was too, were 
arrested and sent out from the city home and a little 
later the initiators of this congress. Colonel Pushkoff 
and Count Karf, were also sent abroad. 




VASILIA PAVLOFF. 



(97) 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 9$ 

In 1887 Pabeolonoszeff, head of the Orthodox Greek 
Church, took a set of cruel steps to stop the Baptist move- 
ment and inaugurated an era of cruel persecutions. In 
Transcaucasia we were the first victims of his cruel 
regime, namely, Brother N. Voronin and an Armenian 
pastor, A. Amircbanianz, and myself, who were sen- 
tenced without trial to four years of banishment to 
Orenburg for the propagation of the Stundism. In 
March, Amirchanianz and I, one day, were suddenly 
seized and cast into prison (Brother Voronin was not at 
home), where we spent ten days with common criminals, 
and in consequence of intercession of our friend we were 
permitted to take with us our families and go into exiie 
for a term of four years in attendance of a policeman at 
our expense. 

Returning home from this exile in 1891 I had 
been asked by the police to give pledge not to preach the 
Gospel any more, or as they said "to make no sectarian 
propagandism,' 7 which I decidedly refused to do for 
conscience' s&ke. After a short time I was again ar- 
rested and cast into prison without permission even for 
my wife to see me. I was soon per etape without taking 
leave from my family and brethren. My way went from 
one prison to another about forty days long; when we 
were going we were chained in couples on the left hands, 
but in prison our chains were taken away. I was to 
pass into eight prisons till I arrived at the place of my 
exile, where I w r as put under the oversight of the police, 
not having right to leave the city without permission. 



100 MODERN BAPTIST 

My correspondence was also under the censure of the 
police. 

I was sent alone and my family c;une to me later, 
but I had not long time to live together with them. In 
July, 1892, the Asiatic cholera raged dreadfully in the 
city and bereaved me in a week of my dear wife and 
four children ; and one child, a girl of twelve years old, 
a week before was drowned while bathing in Ural, so 
that I in a fortnight lost all my family, save one child, 
a son of nine years old, who lives till now. This blow 
was the hardest of all. 

As the soil was tilled in my first exile I could have 
more success in my second exile; when I arrived at 
Orenburg, I baptized at once fourteen souls, and during 
another four years of my remaining in this city there 
were converted and 'baptized through me and my co- 
workers, especially in villages, about one hundred and 
fifty souls from whom I organized three churches and 
ordained the three presbyters at taking leave of them 
and the city. I was challenged to public disputation 
with Orthodox Missionary M. Galovkin on religious 
subjects in the seminary and Orthodox churches, so that 
on these disputations with me were present priests, semi- 
nary pupils and other people, oftentimes three hundred 
persons, so that these disputations roused a spirit of 
searching in religious questions. 

At the end of my second exile I received a call from 
the Russo-German church in Tultsho (Tulcea) in Rou- 
mania to be th-eir pastor and! I accepted this call and 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 101 

went to Roumania, because the persecution in Russia 
was yet in full vigor. I spent there about six years, visit- 
ing sometimes also Bulgaria. My work there was blessed 
through converting of sixty souls. I had opportunity 
to show hospitality and help to many persecuted breth- 
ren that passed over the frontier. 

When the persecution in Russia a little abated the 
church at Tift is invited me again to return home and 
I followed this call and came back to Russia in 1901. 

About six years I worked in Tiiiis, where T found the 
church divided, but after much labor I 'had the joy to 
see them united in one body, 

In 1907 was founded a mission society over which 
I presided three years-, but as the hoped freedom was not 
realized and we could not get legal permission for its 
existence, we were compelled to disorganize. This so- 
ciety had engaged every year from twenty to twenty- 
six missionaries who preached the Gospel and spent for 
this purpose more than four thousand dollars. We 
availed ourselves also of the limited liberty and arranged 
large public evangelization meetings in theaters, audi- 
toriums, tea-houses and other public houses in several 
large cities. Our last congress in St. Petersburg pro- 
moted our cause and made it known in large circles. 

At present time I am working in Odessa, a large, 
beautiful city in south Russia with half a million of 
inhabitants where I came in 1907. I preach in a large 
hired prayer-hall that seats seven hundred and sixty 
persons. Our gatherings are always crowded, especially 



102 MODERN BAPTIST 

Sunday evenings. During my activity here in space of 
three years were added to the church one hundred and 
eighty-five souls through the baptism. The last year 
rose many stations in the vicinity of Odessa as in Tiras- 
pole, Bendery and Kisheney. Among the converted 
there are two nurses who formerly served in a hospital 
but were discharged for their witness about Christ. They 
are now working as deaconesses on their own will anil 
have access to noble families. We have here three "Rus- 
sian, one German and one Jewish-Christian congrega- 
tion of the baptized Christians. 

I am also editor of the weekly Christian Magazine, 
"The Baptist/' that is the official organ of our denomi- 
nation. I could not discharge all my duties if T had not 
an excellent assistant in the person of a young man, 
Brother M. Timoshanks. I labor on the edition of this 
paper without capital and wages and it is very difficult 
to carry on this work that gives till now deficit. 

Concerning the religious liberty, T have to say that 
it is yet very limited, though we are in better condition 
than before the revolution. We can now print our own 
literature and permitted services are not dissolved. But 
the Minister of Interiors defends very carefully the es- 
tablished Church and enacts circulars that do very con- 
siderably limit our rights. Recently he published regu- 
lations that forbid the services in the open air and all 
processions, save funerals, that includes our baptisms; 
further the Sunday schools and young men's associations 
are forbidden without special permission; the last can 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 103 

foe permitted on one condition that no Orthodox youth 
shall take part in the gatherings of our youth, neither 
the children of our believing parents when they are 
registered as Orthodox and albove fourteen years old. 

In many places our members are beaten and their 
gatherings are dissolved by mob, as for instance, in 
Siberia a mob entered the house of one brother where 
was a prayer-meeting, dissolved it by gun-firing and 
tried to kill him. Another occasion occurred in Bretal- 
pashinsk, the Province of Kuban, where the mob pre- 
vented the burial of the Baptist preacher, Yoursshenks, 
who died soon after the attack on him by a mob, while 
he was preaching in the meeting. The brethren were 
compelled to carry off his corpse ten miles away in order 
to bury it. It was buried on the estate of our Brother 
V. Mamontaff. 



MADAME VA&ILIA PAVLOFF. 

Madame Pavloff's picture appears in the frontispiece 
group, the second from the left in the center row, at 
the right of her husband. The first thing that strikes 
one upon meeting Madame Pavloff, as, in fact, was the 
case with all of the messengers from! the continent of 
Europe to the Baptist World Alliance, in Philadelphia, 
was her poise. She was calm in her self-possession, grasp- 
ed one's hand with firmness and smiled pleasantly. The 
impression came at once that she was fashioned to be the 
wife of the fearless, aggressive and masterful Pavloff. 
It is easy to see how she was always ready to go with 
him at an hour's notice upon any suggested missionary 
tour where journeys on foot, stones, and even prisons, 
were along the way. To questions asked her she quietly 
and concisely said : 

"My work has consisted principally in helping my 
husband in his teachings and sharing his hardships. I 
joined him during his second exile in Siberia and to- 
gether we starved and fought for existence. 

"What perils we faced, what sufferings we underwent 
make me shudder yet when I think of them. Often 
death would have been easier for us, but we struggled 
on, strong in faith. Thank God those days come no 



A CHILD IN A LAND FAft AWAY. 

Once on a time there lived seven h°„ppy. healthy, 
little children in a small house with a lovely garden be- 
hind. It was not in America — no, dear! Please take a 
map and yon will easily find the heart-shaped land of 
Bohemia. It looks on the map just like a heart in the 
midst of Europe, and because of sore persecutions, it 
has proven a broken heart. When you look in the 
center of this heart on the map you will find the city 
of Prague. So there! That's the place where these, 
happy children lived. Their parents were poor, but they 
were rich in God. The father has been a Baptist min- 
ister, but do not think of a large church. No. dear! 
He started to be a minister in Prague but had not a 
single member. Just imagine! But still he faithfully 
started and faithfully worked. Worked hard. Hard, 
because the whole land is Roman Catholic and it is very 
hard to work among these people. The mother of these 
children helped the father. Now, I will tell you a secret : 
it was my father. So my mother helped my father. 
How? Well, first of all, she said, she will have a Sun- 
day school with her own seven children. Dear me' 
Wasn't it a beautiful Sunday school ! When it was fine 
weather, we went to the garden behind our house, got 



105 MODERN BAPTIST 

some chairs in the little tent and mother was our teacher ! 
She was a good, dear, noble teacher, too. Oh, those blessed 
hours at her feet ! I am now quite grown up and I have 
a little daughter myself — but I will never, never forget 
our Sunday school at home. But very soon we were not 
just seven, for our circle grew large. We told our fellow 
pupils in the day school about our lovely Sunday school 
at home. Didn't they look at us with envy? I'm sure 
they did. So we said: "Well, if you like, do come next 
Sunday." 

So next Sunday, one little Catholic sheep after an 
other crept silently into our fold, fearing a little whether 
my mother would not turn them out. But dear me, there 
was no reason to fear. Mother smiled at every one and 
said she was so glad they came. They came Sunday after 
Sunday. But you know what happened? The priest in 
the day school heard about it, that his Catholic children 
"are unfaithful to the Church and visit the heretic Sun- 
day school at Jungmann's street at the Baptist minister's 
house." So there was a great commotion the next day in 
the school and the priest forbade every one to go to our 
house. We were so sad. 

But listen. A boy came again and again. It was a 
pale, thin-face'd, tiny, little boy of about ten years of 
age. We liked him very much, though his dress was very 
poor and he seemed .always so hungry. Mother liked 
him and petted him. She told him about Christ's love to 
every child, about Jesus' salvation and redemption: He 
was very attentive to what she said, and mother taught 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 109 

him how to pray and to ask forgiveness for his soul. A lso 
he loved the hymns very much and was fond especially 
of the one: " Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible 
tells me so." 

This all happened about fourteen years ago. Years 
went quickly by, the seven children became grown up 
people. The oldest one — Harry — became a minister to 
help his father, but died at the age of twenty-eight. The 
younger son, Joseph, went into the footsteps of his father 
and brother and works today in Prague as a minister in 
the church -his father founded many years ago. 

In the meantime much has changed, many things 
came up out of our memory ; the Sunday school at Prague 
became larger and larger, the faces in the rows of chil- 
dren changed, one new child came, others went and we 
never knew what became of the little thin-faced boy. 

Now some time ago a lady in Prague — her name was 
Jarolimak — told me, "There is an old poor woman, down 
in a dark street of a suburb of Prague, she is very ill — 
won't you come with me to see her?' 7 Of course I went. 
We came into a small, dark room, where poverty evi- 
dently had been quite at home. The air was hea\y and 
damp, the room dirty, untidy and cold. On a poor bed 
I saw the old, half-blind woman, who at the sight of u? 
cried, "May God reward you, I am so forsaken, forgotten 
here." 

Then I spoke to her about the love of Jesus and we 
helped her as much as we could. In a little while she said, 
"Please, there in the wardrobe is a Bible rolled uu in 



110 MODERN BAPTIST 

a cloth. Would you read for me a little?" I thought it 
would be a Catholic prayer hook, or some other book, 
but I did not expect to find a real Bible in this Catholic 
house. But indeed, it was a dear, good, old Bible. 
" Where did you get it from?" I asked. "Ah, it's a long 
story," she said. "Do tell me," I prayed. 

"Many years ago, I had a grown-up boy, who had 
been bad and wicked. He was the sorrow of my life. 
His father had been a drunkard and I feared my boy 
would take after him. He went to public houses, spent 
all his money there dancing, drinking and playing cards. 
Sometimes he took my own money secretly and spent it 
with his bad comrades. I did not know what to do; he 
wouldn't listen to me when I asked him to lead a better 
life. So I prayed to God that he might try either to 
change him to be good or to take him away. At one 
time unexpectedly he changed. I do not know till this 
day what it could have been. He started to visit some 
secret meetings — it was in the Jungmann's street. There 
he learned how to pray and at home he sang most beauti- 
ful hymns. Never more did he go to dance and even if 
I said to him he might go once more, he wouldn't 
go. My neighbors noticed at once this change and sev- 
eral of them told me that I ought to be thankful to 
God for such a boy. I couldn't explain this change, so 
I thought God gave him another brain. There in the 
secret meetings same one gave him a little Bible (it was 
a New Testament). He loved the little book so much, 
that he carried it always with J him and whenever he had 






HEROES AND MARTYRS. Ill 

a few minutes time, he read and read. I never could 
read and beside this I am half blind, so my poor boy 
read for me aloud and sung hymns for me. He always 
said, 'Come, mother, dear, sit down next to me, I will 
read for you.' Sometimes I had too much to do but 
he said, 'Let your work go for a minute, never mind 
your work, come and listen.' Oh, it was a happy time. 
One day someone knocked at the door and a man stood 
there, asking whether we would buy a Bible. It was a col- 
porter from the British and Foreign Bible Society, 
which has a depot at Prague. My boy prayed at once, 
'Oh mother, do buy one, do! I will pay you for it 
when I shall get well and can work again' — for he began 
to be ill at that time. So I bought this very Bible from 
him. My boy got ill with consumption and was unaJble 
to go to the meetings. But he read at home, sang and 
was happy. But he didn't pray as I do ! No, dear] He 
never prayed to all the saints, to the Virgin Mary, to 
the angels — no! He always spoke with Jesus like a 
friend speaks with a friend. He also told me, that in 
the church where he used to go, they baptize only grown- 
ups, which are believers." 

This was all told me by thds mother, and she did 
not know that I knew well all about those meetings at 
the Jungmann's street. But she w T as not at the end. 
She said: 

" After the death of my poor boy, Joseph, his younger 
brother, Vaclav, took possession of the Bible and read in 
it. Then some children in tihe school told him to go to 



112 MODERN BAPTIST 

gome Sunday school and he went. It was the same place 
where Joseph used to go. Some lady had been there tell- 
ing the children about Jesus and taught them to pray, 
to sing, and my little Vaclav liked this Sunday school 
ever so much. At home he used to pray just like Joseph, 
who died, and most of all hymns he liked the same one, 
'Jesus Loves Me.' But a sad thing happened. The 
priest at the school learned that the boy was attending 
a heretic place of worship and he chastised him for 
having anything to do with it and forbade him to go 
anymore to the Sunday school. However, the lad did re- 
turn; his life became beautiful and week by w T eek he 
developed as a Christian. His conduct had been gen- 
erally bad, but after he went sometime to the Sunday 
school, his conduct changed. But news was carried to 
the priest that his orders had been disregarded. The 
priest sought the lad and rebuked him for taking up with 
what he called 'these new ideas.' The little fellow looked 
into the face of the priest and innocently remarked, 'Ex- 
cuse me, sir, these are not new ideas. I am told they 
are very old ideas/ At this remark the priest lost 
control of his temper and hurled the boy against 
a stove, breaking some of the bones in the little 
fellow's chest. The boy also received internal injuries 
from which he suffered great pain. Then followed two 
long years of sickness and pain. 'Slowly the boy faded 
away. He died at the age of fourteen years." 

It is now twelve years ago since this little hero died. 
When his last day came, he said, "Mother, today at four 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 113 

o'clock I will go. I had a beautiful dream, oh, it will be 
every thing so nice and sweet, but before I go, I must 
thank you and all our neighbors for all you and they 
have done for me in my illness." The neighbors came 
and were moved to tears, when the boy spoke of his death 
at four o'clock and thanked them all. Then they waited 
very anxiously until it all ended. Before the clock had 
struck four, little Vaclav Smejkal died. 

I was told that once in a religious lesson in the day 
school, when the priest explained to the class something 
of the New Testament, this little fellow said, "X beg your 
pardon, sir, so it is not written in my New Testament it 
is so and so." This brought the priest, of course, into a 
rage. 

The old mother was very glad when I told her that 
I went to Sunday school with her little boy, that it was 
my mother who taught us and that my father is the min- 
ister of whom both her boys spoke at home. She was 
so glad and we became close friends together. Then 
several of our members came to visit her and help her. 
She was very anxious to hear and to learn to read the 
Gospel. Once Mrs. Jarolimak, member of our church, 
came to read for her and found her having her Bible 
open on her lap. Mrs. Jarolimak smiled and mother 
Smejkal said: "You know, I cannot read, but it was too 
long for me to wait for you, so I just turned one leaf 
after another and thought in the meantime about Jesus. 
Then I prayed." 

Once again her little granddaughter about four 



114 MODERN BAPTIST 

years of age came to see her. The grandmother said: 
"Let's have a prayer-meeting, dear." So the little girl 
took the New Testament, the grandmother the big Bible 
and they both turned one leaf after another speaking 
about Jesus' love. Then both of these "little ones" tried 
to pray. 

When mother Smejkal recovered a little from her 
illness she came several times to our meetings and opened 
her heart to Jesus. But again she got ill and it is now two 
years ago since she died and passed on to be by her two 
boys who had found Jesus in our Sunday school. 
Madame Lydia Kolatorova (nee Novotny), 

Brunn, Moravia. 



KAFUSTINSKY, EXILED MARTYR. 

Deeper grew the blackness of the forest, pro- 
founder fell the silence, enveloping all things. Even 
the late night birds had ceased any twitter; the River 
Desna that ran along the edge of the woods seemed 
sighing in sleep. Often had this midnight silence been 
slightly broken by the cautious tread of human feet, 
by two hushed words spoken to a young inan who stood 
guard in the narrow path that ran into the forest. But 
even this had grown less frequent. 

"Do you suppose father could have passed us, Anton, 
and we not known it?" asked a low voice of the young 
guard. 

"Hardly, Ivan — then mother knows that I am on 
guard tonight." 

"List — sh — . I hear others," whispered a third voice, 
that of a yet younger brother who sat on the ground, 
his ear against it. He sprang to his feet and stood 
beside the two taller youths. 

"That must be they/' he said intently. All was 
quiet again, except the tread of cautious approaching 
footsteps. Two figures could be vaguely discerned 
in the darkness, one tall, the other small. The youths 
listened for the pass words. 



116 MODERN BAPTIST 

"Our King," sounded presently from the taller out- 
line. 

"That's them/' cried the youngest of the three youths 
and sprang eagerly from behind the tree. 

"Each of you here?" asked the smaller outline. 

"I'm here, too, brothers," came an unexpected sound. 

"Not so loudly, babe," quickly cautioned the 
mother. 

"Why it's the little Katrine!" welcomed the three 
brothers as with one voice. Her small figure of eight 
year's growth had been hidden by the other two. The 
faint sound of a far distant bell began to fall on the 
darkness ; it was a village clock striking twelve. 

"You are late, father," said Anton. 

"Yes — we tarried tonight to pray for our boys," he 
answered. Instinctively the mother put out her hands 
and somehow in the dark found Ivan and 'Gregory 
and drew them to her side. 

"Come/' said the father. "Be alert, Anton." 

"Would that I could witness the baptism of my 
brothers." Anton took the hands of his younger brothers 
and pressed them warmly. "My brother soldiers under 
Our King." The darkness hid the proud flash of the 
eye and the princely toss of the head, but the smothered 
words carried the fire. 

The little group of five moved off leaving the young 
guard alone. They had not gone a great distance before 
they came to a wooden cottage. It was the home of 
Brother Makroff, a farmer of the Province of Kursk, 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 117 

in the southern portion of great Russia. Many times 
had quietly gathered there those who desired to worship 
God according to their own hearts and 'consciences. 
Greater had been the danger for such groups anywhere 
since the fateful 13th of March in 1881, when occurred 
the horrible death of Alexander II. The death of this 
czar at the hands of the Nihilists wounded Russian 
liberty with a deep and deadly wound. Since then more 
cruel had grown the persecutions. Wherever gathered 
those whose hearts worshiped contrary to the Church of 
the State, there was peril. Only at night did such dare 
to gather for worship, and on special occasions at mid- 
night. This was one of the nights of special -occasion. 
Just as the group reached the cottage the door opened 
and a figure was outlined in the light from within. 

"Ah, Brother Kapustinsky!'' ejaculated a voice as 
the light fell suddenly upon the group. "We were 
growing uneasy." 

Together they entered the cottage. The benches 
surrounding the room, the middle of the floor, and the 
top of the stove, were crowded with neighbors from near 
and far. A few Scripture texts adorned the walls; all 
ikons or holy pictures had been removed. In one 
corner of the room was a table and upon it lay an open 
Bible and several hymn books. Behind this table the 
tall figure among the little group, Kapustinsky quietly 
took his stand. His powerful, soldier-like body com- 
manded immediate attention. 

"Pardon me for being late — your time has been 



118 MODERN BAPTIST 

profitably spent in Bible study with Brother Makroff to 
lead you — but most of you know how great is this night 
for me." He stopped abruptly. The voice was that oi 
one who was accustomed to command. The minds of 
many sprang back to the renown he had gained for his 
good service in the war of 1877 between Turkey and 
Russia. His duty had been to superintend the cartage of 
provisions to the scenes of the conflict in the south. 
But not only to his fellow soldiers of Russia had he 
brought the food necessary to their warfare. While for 
these his wagons had gone down laden, neither had they 
returned to Russia empty! Many a consignment of 
Bibles and Testaments had been brought into the do- 
main of the Holy Synod by his skill and daring. There 
were those in this room who owed to this man their true 
Bread of Life, brought to them in one of those Bibles. 
It was all of these things that the momentary tense 
silence spake on this auspicious night. 

"Tonight," went on the voice, deep with emotion, 
"My two boys join with us, brothers, fellow-soldiers, 
under our common King, even Christ." The father- 
heart of the soldier-man was uppermost. Instinctively 
he put out his hand towards the boys. With a common 
impulse they stepped close to his side and stood there; 
Ivan, the older, with head erect; Gregory, the younger, 
scarcely passed eleven years, with -arms folded and eyes 
bent upon his father. 

"Gregory is the youngest in our midst," Kapustin- 
sky smiled for a moment upon the boy. "He is proud 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 119 

of the name he bears, called after Gregory Skovoroda, 
that great soul who .traveled this country far and wide, 
scattering the good seed of the Kingdom, talking in 
homely fashion to the people about their souls and the 
Savior. But prouder is the boy this night that he may 
go down with others to the River Desna and there be 
buried with this Savior in baptism and rise again to serve 
the One who has saved him." 

"Even so — Amen!" came assent of many voices as 
with one accord. 

"We lingered long in prayer. It is late — shall we go 
now to the river?" 

Quietly those gathered in the cottage filed out. 
Another path they took and marched silently down to 
the banks of the River Desna; continually was heard 
the whisper of murmured prayers. 

"Oh, I wish that I, too, might be baptized," said the 
little Katrine to her mother, as the long line formed 
along the river bank. 

"Why, little one?" 

"Oh, Like my brothers now, and Big Brother Anton 
was last winter. May not I?" 

"Not yet," answered the mother, and added, "Not 
because of the brothers." 

It was the service of what- is known as the Believers' 
baptism. They dared let no songs give signal. Only 
murmured prayers, the low voice of Kapustinsky as he 
spake the solemn words over each one who stood with 
him in the water, the gentle disturbance of the water 



120 MODERN BAPTIST 

as each soul was buried in baptism with the found 
Savior and raised again to walk the new life — 
only these things broke the midnight stillness. Before 
the passing of an hour the service was over, the converts 
were cared for, the entire assembly was back in the cot- 
tage for some final words of love and prayer. Wonderful 
was the radiance that played over the faces as they spake 
one with another. 

"List!" The word shot dagger-like through the 
room. Breathless was the sudden silence. The signal! 
To others it. might have meant the call of a night owl — 
to these it meant God could only tell what. 

"Let the mothers who have babes at home be gotten 

away at once," quickly spake Kapustinsky. Involuntar- 
ily he glanced at his own Katrine; they had left two in 
their home. Several women slipped through the crowd 
and out the back door ; among them was the mother with 
the little Katrine. Hardly had they passed out at the 
rear door when at the front door appeared the police. 
The entrance of the visitors created a wild panic. The 
monjiks and the womenfolk arose to their feet 
and remained standing in silence. 

"Ha, ha!" exclaimed an officer. "You are at it again. 
We have caught you at another of your meetings." 

"What are you here for?" a St. Petersburg official 
inquired, looking around. There was silence for a few 
seconds, then a quiet, respectful voice spake. 

"We are here to pray to God, batushka." 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 121 

"Why do you not go to church and offer your pray- 
ers there?" 

"The church is full of ikons which we must not 
worship, and God will hear us if we pray to him here." 

"Where is your picture?" interrupted a policeman. 
For every Russian must have in one corner of his room 
a holy picture, or ikon, before which, as often as can be 
afforded, he must burn the intercessory candle. To fail 
to do so means arrest and imprisonment. 

"I have no such thing/' replied Makroff bravely. 

"You defy the law of the Holy Synod—" 

"Stay, friend," interrupted Kapustinsky, stepping 
between Makroff and the officer. "We defy no one — 
we have the highest veneration for the czar and his 
high advisers. But our Bible teaches us to acknowledge 
no king over our conscience but the Christ. He who 
truly repents need not burn candles before pictures, for 
Jesus is the Savior, and not St. Nicholas, a St. Jonah, 
or even the Virgin Ma " 

"Put the irons on them, men," shouted the head 
officer. "Flog those you wish." Dire became the confu- 
sion. Makroff and Kapustinsky suddenly felt them- 
selves handcuffed and fastened together by a short chain. 
Pleas for mercy, cries of pain, as the lashes of the police 
began to fall right and left, rose in one unintelligible 
tumult. 

"To Kieff with your prisoners!" finally called the 
head officer. "Now, no more of your secret prayer-meet- 
ings," he drawled to the exhausted human beings he 



122 MODERN BAPTIST 






left behind, some sunk upon chairs, some falling to the 
floor. With the clank of chains and threats from the 
police the prisoners were headed toward the historic citj? 
of Kieff. 

Into the prison at Kieff, the cradle of Russian Christ- 
ianity, the prisoners were thrown — a prison as foul, ver- 
min infested, sickening, as all others. Only a few days 
did Makroff remain. His house and his ways were 
known to the authorities. He had been in the habit of 
allowing Gospel meetings there. Souls had 
been saved and many persons had been baptized in the 
river that ran through the farm. The arrest had been 
postponed only awaiting the opportunity to catch him 
in the act. For such a notorious heretic as he there was 
no need for a trial, so, without trial, he was banished by 
administrative decree for five years to Transcaucasia 
and there placed under police surveillance. For when ii 
was found by the Most Holy Governing Synod that the 
public trial of "Sectarius" drew increased public attention 
to their doctrines, and excited hostility against the Greek 
Orthodox Church as the originator of the persecutions, 
the method was invented of "exile by administrative or- 
der." Authority was freely given to representatives of the 
government in the various localities to pass sentence of 
exile without even a pretense of a trial upon all persons 
suspected of attempting to propagate heresy, or otherwise 
offending against the Russian Church. Under this sys- 
tem of "exile by administrative order" many thousands 
of believers suffered cruelly, without a hearing, and witlr- 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. I2S 

out the slightest possibility of redress. No man could be 
sure it would not be his turn next to be seized and trans- 
ported to Siberia, White Sea, or Trancaucasia. 

It is no wonder then that great was the anxiety of the 
heart of Katrine, the mother, and difficult was it for her 
to quiet the questions of the little Katrine and the boys 
when they learned the fate of their good friend, Makroff. 

"Where is Transcaucasia, mother?" asked Gregory. 

"Many hundred miles, on the border of the country 
of Persia." 

"But they will not send our father there, will they, 
mother?" half whispered the little Katrine. The moth- 
er smiled sadly at the child, but gave no answer. "Will 
they, mother?" 

The tramp of feet at the doorway saved her from an- 
swering. Anton and Ivan were returning from their 
weekly visit to the prison at KiefT. She had gone once, 
taking all the children. 

"The news today, boys?" She was on her feet in an 
instant. 

"Nothing new," answered Anton. "His fellow-prison- 
ers have grown kind — they have ceased stealing from 
him. He persisted in returning the evil they did him 
with services of love and one by one they have begged 
our father's pardon." 

"And, mother," interrupted Ivan, as if fearing he 
might forget, "Do you remember the Prussian we saw 
chained hand and foot in the cell? He heard father tell- 
ing of the love of Jesus and the poor man wishes to 




124 MODERN BAPTIST 



know more. Father says we must bring him a German 
Testament the next time we come." 

But it was not until the group had grown quiet again 
and they had gathered around the table for the prayer- 
time that Anton gave his special message to the mother. 

"Father told me to say to you/' spake the youth, 
stooping over her as she sat in her chair with the open 
Bible in her lap, "That often is he reminded of the 
ravens who brought food to Elijah; and of Daniel who 
in the lions' den was strengthened by God. God is 
still the same now as ever, and in His great mercy careth 
for His people." There was a moment of silence, then 
with lowered voice. "It would be better to worship God 
in a far away country, than to be an exile from God's 
Kingdom here in our native land." 

"Anton, what is it? What have you heard?" 

"No definite fact, mother — but something of the 
great work father did during the war with Turkey 
in using the return provision wagons for bringing Bibles 
to the starved souls of our country has been learned — " 

"Anton," interrupted the mother, "we must see 
about selling our home and settling our affairs." Her 
eyes were tense with mental activity. 

"Perchance we can go as he goes, and not wait to 
follow." 

Several weeks passed ere Katrine was able to carry all 
of the children on another trip to KiefT. This time the> 
journey by way of the River Desna, thence into the 
River Dnieper, landing at KiefT. Had one noticed care- 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 125 

fully, one would have said that the family group was 
coming for a long stay. Up the steep hill they climbed 
and sought the street that led to the prison. As they 
turned into the street there was evidence that something 
was on hand ; the crowd was great ; further along was the 
sound of jeers and taunts. 

"What is it?" asked Gregory of a boy. 
"The criminal gang going to exile," he shouted 
reply. 

"To exile—" the words blanched the faces of the moth- 
er and children. The procession was at hand. The 
heavy clanking of chains could be heard. The police 
marched in the front, at the sides, and in the rear; in the 
center moved the ones who bore the chains forged 
around their ankles. The hair of half the head of every- 
one was shaved ; the garb of every one was the dress of the 
convict. Katrine, half forgetful of the babe in her arms, 
peered madly into each face, instinctively, not that she 
would allow herself to really think that she might recog- 
nize a face. Suddenly she found that face ! 

"Anton — Anton — it's your father — there — he is 
there !" The shriek rose above everything; involuntarily 
the procession came to a half stop. There were a few oaths 
from the police and again the procession moved. For a 
moment Katrine seemed to swoon but when the proces- 
sion began moving, she started up like a half wild 
creature and fell in behind it ; the children pressed close 
to her, the little ones sobbing. The distance to the rail- 
way station was not great. Having reached there the 



126 MODERN BAPTIST 






woman broke loose from the children and pushed her 
way to her husband. Kapustinsky had heard the shriek, 
had recognized it, had lacerated himself with his chains 
as instinctively he struggled to be free, had quickly taken 
in the situation that she was following. He was deadly 
quiet as she came up to him, fearing lest any move- 
ment on his part might send her away. 

/'Which place?" breathlessly, as she reached him. 

"To Gernssi." His chains rattled. 

"We are going, too — no, I didn't know — I just 
thought we would come here and wait, we sold the farm. 
We are ready to go — we have our money — but I didn't 
think it would be so soon," ran her words incoherently. 
The boys, Katrine and the other little sister, were seek- 
ing their way through the crowd to the parents. Sud- 
denly there was a cry of fright from the little Katrine ; 
one of the head policemen had seized her by the arm 
and was turning her back ; with his other hand he struck 
the boys with his club. 

"The Governor-general has sent word that all child- 
ren must be left behind !" he shouted ruthlessly. Wild- 
eyed and stunned Katrine stood as one bound to her 
place, her free hand still held that of her husband. She 
was aroused by a policeman dragging her babe from her 
right arm. 

"Here's another," he was calling to a fellow police- 
man. "Take them to the pope. He will see that they 
go where they'll obey laws. He will immerse them into 
the Greek Orthodox Church, first," he added with a 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 127 

contemptuous smile, as. he was putting the crying infant 
into the hands of the policeman who was obeying orders. 
So many personal tragedies were being enacted in so 
many different spots that the scene attracted little atten- 
tion. 

"Give me my child!'' The mother sprang suddenly 
upon the man and snatched the babe from his arms. 
It flashed through her tortured brain that still other 
policemen were laying hands on the other children. 

"Kapustinsky I" It was a cry of despair. He saw 
what she had seen. 

"Stay with them, Katrine." The chains of the pris- 
oners were beginning to rattle ; the whistle of the steam 
engine sounded; the harsh orders to march were heard 
above everything. 

"Katrine — Katrine," seizing her left hand and 
clutching it with the clutch of death. "Katrine — we will 
pray — do you hear? Pray — every — day — that God will 
bring you and the little ones to me — " there was a lash 
across his shoulders ; he was detaining the whole body of 
prisoners. Katrine fell back. It was the arms of Anton 
that caught her. 

"Mother — they are taking the children !" 

Like magic were the words. She sprang up and out 
from the crowd. The little sister and Gregory she fi- 
nally secured ; Ivan had snatched himself away. But the 
little Katrine could not be found. Back to the mother's 
mind came the memory of having heard of how one 



1 28 MODERN BAPTIST 

mother had been robbed of four children; another, of 
seven ; a third, of three little daughters. 

"We will stay right here in Kieff and keep forever 
looking," said Anton. 

"And forever praying — do you remember, aid you 
hear them, Anton — the last words of your father?" 1 

"Yes, mother, and while we pray we boys will 
work hard and we will save every kopek." 

Thus in the city of Kieff stayed Katrine and her 
children, looking day by day for the stolen little Katrine, 
working, planning, praying — all for one purpose — while 
through the many days traveled Kapustinsky across the 
many hundred miles of southern Russia to the city of 
Valdikwakas. This small city of between twenty and 
fifty thousand inhabitants lies on the northern slope of 
the Caucasian range of mountains. From here begins 
the long tramp of the exiles into fastnesses of desolate 
Caucasia. 

It was in the year 1890 that Kapustinsky began 
his march over the rough mountainous roads, his chains 
clanking at every step he took. With a criminal gang 
he walked, and under military escort. Two hundred 
miles it is to Tiflis. From thence he traveled by a little- 
used track over the mountains to Schuscha, about a hun- 
dred and seventy miles; from there another hundred 
miles brought him to Gernssi. Exciting, indeed, Was the 
journey, abounding in perilous passes and gloomy ravines 
and gorges ; not infrequently was seen lurking some out- 
law. Sometimes he came upon a mud hut, or a cave in 






HEROES AND MARTYRS. 129 

which dwelt men and women exiled as he was, for Christ's 
sake. Here they "wandered in the mountains, and in 
dens and caves of the earth," those "of whom the world 
was not worthy," Heb. 11 :38. Scattered over the district 
of Gernssi on the Persian frontier, are thirty or more 
exiled families, nearly all of them Baptists, a few being 
Stundists. The few inhabitants of the region are Tar- 
tars; with these there is no possibility of speech as none 
of the exiles can speak their language. 

The little track of the mountains ends at the Gernssi 
.settlement. Here Kapustinsky was told he might cease 
his journey and lay aside his chains. As he took them 
off he saw how the links shone like polished silver. His 
first feeling was that of vague, dumb wonder as to where 
he should find food, where shelter. He knew that no 
dwellings were provided by the government. A cave, 
a hole dug in the ground, was his only hope. For a 
long time he was too exhausted to look for either. The 
next day found him little better. 

"Lord, give me strength lest I die here without my 
loved ones," he gasped, and forced himself to move fur- 
ther on. Not far had he gone when he came upon a 
mud hut. He called faintly and a figure came to the 
entrance. Kapustinsky fell back on the ground, aghast. 

"By the grace of God, do I live, or do I dream!" he 
gasped. The man in the door was straining his eyes. 

"Is it — no — can it be — it is Brother Kapustinsky!" 
he was questioning. 

"Brother Makroff!" Life came to the stricken fonr, 



130 MODERN BAPTIST 

and he sprang to his feet and into the arms of his now 
weeping friend. 

For many days dwelt Kapustinsky in that mud hut, 
nursed and fed by his neighbor of old. When his 
strength was restored he went out and sought for a 
place to dig his own mud hut; and there, often times, 
MakrofT helped him again. With joy he told his brother 
one night that it was finished. 

"Join us in prayer, Brother MakrofT. My Katrine 
and I pray that 'some day, somehow, she and the little 
ones may come to me here. I have made my altar in 
the home — even this day. It were sweeter far to die here 
together, if necessary, in the joy of the Lord." As the 
days, the weeks, the months went by others of the exiles 
scattered throughout that desolate district came to know 
Kapustinsky and for what he prayed and watched and 
worked. They had been forbidden to gather together 
for prayer, but, thank God, there is no power that can 
prevent the human heart from the prayer within its 
own closet. And so many and tender were the prayers 
of these brothers in exile, separated though they were in 
outer form. 

It was in the early spring of the following year when 
Kapustinsky received word that his loved ones were on 
their way; they had chosen to take the sea voyage, 
crossing the Black Sea, and thence landward to Tiflis. 
Thrice active became Kapustinsky's energies. Much 
effort was needed for himself alone to w T rest a liv- 
ing from the stony soil with practically no proper imple- 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 131 

ments and in so severe a climate. He succeeded in se- 
curing some water-melon seed and smiled as he planted 
them, thinking of how the children would love the fruit. 
When the seeds had sprouted and the vines began to 
grow, then finally the fruit began to appear, he tended 
them with almost a parent's affection. 

One morning as Kapustinsky stooped over his melon 
vines he became conscious of an approaching cart, then 
sounded suddenly shrieks of joy. He stood up quickly 
and looked around. They were the voices of his Katrine 
and his children! The first to reach him was the little 
Katrine, throwing her arms around his neck and break- 
ing into sobs and laughter. As to whether they laughed 
or cried the most no one could tell. It was a long time 
before it began to dawn upon Kapustinsky that the little 
ones looked sickrv, that all were hoarse, that Katrine 
coughed harshly and her hands were feverish. Terri- 
ble anxiety suddenly chased all the joy from his face. 

"Oh, we fared so well until we reached Tinis," said 
Katrine in haste. "But we have had to come from there 
over these hundred miles of mountains in that open 
cart. Oh, think not of it," she pled piteously. "Let us 
have our joy; we are united again. Let us thank God. 
Have we not said in our home there in Kursh, that we 
had rather die in exile together than to be separated, 
or to be false to our Bible and to our conscience?" It 
was true. The children had heard them say it. 

"Come let us thank God in our hew Jiome," said the 
two with a common impulse. They sought the scooped- 



1 32 MODERN BAPTIST 

out mud but — it was home, sacred and glorious; not 
an eye, young nor old, but beamed with, joy and love. 
Together they kneeled down on the damp earth floor to 
thank God for their reunion. 

Not at all did the joy decrease as the weeks followed ; 
though the mother could not shake off the cough ; though 
it was difficult to get enough to eat. 

"Never mind, our melons will soon be ripe," encour- 
aged Kapustinsky, as the heat of the summer sun red- 
dened them. "We can eat one tomorrow," he finally said 
one night. The children went to sleep thinking of the 
melon as in some countries children go to sleep on 
Christmas E v e thinking of a good man named Santa 
Claus who brings presents on that night. It was the 
little Katrine that was the first out the next morn. Her 
happy skip stopped abruptly before the melon patch. 
She stood rubbing her eyes, with mouth agape ; suddenly 
she turned and ran back into the hut for her father. 

"They are all gone!" she cried dragging him out 
with her. The others followed them, all except the 
mother, who had lain sick upon her bed for many a 
day. It was true. Before them was only a tangled 
ruin of trampled and broken vines. 

"The policemen have done it," said KapustmsKv. 
His great body trembled for a moment. Was it wrath, 
or was it despair that shook him so? "They destroyed a 
neighbor's cabbage patch one night, and cut off his 
mule's hind feet," he added lifelessly. The little Kat- 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 133 

rine had thrown herself upon the ground and was sob- 
bing wildly. 

"Come, Pet," said the man piteously. "Try not to 
cry, poor mother is so sick." 

It was not for many more days that the mother 
suffered. God took 'her home. 

"It is so sweet to be here," she murmured, as she felt 
her husband's arms around her. "Sweet to die here — 
we worked — we prayed — God opened the way for us to 
come — -we are — here — together — " and then she slipped 
away. 

The news spread around through the district. The 
other brethren crept long distances, to be with their 
friend. It was sweet, indeed, to hear their simple pray- 
ers as they crowded inside the hut, and bowed together 
before the Throne. One day one of t'he number was 
stopped by the pristav, a policeman, in charge. 

"I hear you are having prayer-meetings." 

"Oh, not ordinary prayer-meetings," was the 
alarmed reply. "We have not held an ordinary prayer- 
m'eeting since they were forbidden." 

"But you have been having prayer together!" ex- 
claimed the officer impatiently. "Don't try to get out 
of it!" 

"Brother Kapustinsky has lost his wife, and we have 
prayed with him to show him our brotherly sympathy," 
pled the man. 

"Ha! Kapustinsky, indeed! Holding prayer-meet- 
ings in his izba. Well, Kapustinsky shall hear of this." 



134 MODERN BAPTIST 

Hear of it, indeed, did Brother Kapustinsky. One 
day, soon afterwards, policemen appeared at his door 
and served a sentence on him for his removal to an 
awful solitude called Terter; in that spot there was no 
access to human sympathy. To Terter he went with his 
children, and dug out another hole in the earth for a 
habitation, and built around it a rough fence to keep 
away the wild beasts. 

In this place Kapustinsky lived a few months. 
Much he talked with Anton, helping to find some light 
for the children's future. "There is the country of Amer- 
ica — keep your face that way, Anton. I am glad you 
came with your mother, boy. It was the true soldier — 
you did not have to come." 

On that last night his spirit drifted between the vis- 
ible and the invisible. The children hung around him 
for a word. 

"Have I been a good soldier?" whispered Gregory. 

"Brave — oh, so brave — " then his words began to 
murmur excitedly. "A great host — yes — they are com- 
ing — they are with us, boys, (then we are not alone?)" 
with perplexity, "you, Gregory — you'll be a man then 
■ — you'll go over to see them. They will come over and 
help us — Anton, it is — America — " The rapture of the 
vision tore his spirit and the body fell back upon the 
pallet, lifeless. The little children gazed in famishea, 
speechless wonder. 

That was the group the pristav found the next morn- 
ing as he went his rounds. 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 135 

"You're no exile," he said gruffly to Anton. "You 
can get on back — I'll help you with these," he added 
with a toss of the head to the children. 

Margaret A. Frost, 

Nashville, Tenn. 



BARON WOLDEMAR UIXKULL. 

He dawned first upon the Baptists of the world at 
the first session of the Baptist World Alliance, London, 
1905. In reporting that meeting I wrote : 

"Baron- Woldeniar Uixkull, a Russian, is here, and 
he is a favorite at all times. He is a large, blond body 
of charming manners. It is easy to count him a baron. 
He is extremely modest and yet his bearing is that 
of one who is ready for all emergencies. He is a man 
of few words, but he has a winning smile, suggestive 
of sympathy and good fellowship. He is always pres- 
ent and evidently is deeply interested in the proceed- 
ings and the men who are pressing measures for larger 
things. He is easy of approach, but no man has put 
his hand upon him." 

He was a glorious: discovery everyone felt and as 
time has so well proven. He read by appointment a 
comprehensive paper in English, giving the political 
and religious condition of Russia, and especially of 
the Baptists and Stundists, the latter he pronounced as 
being on the way to the Baptists, but sadly limited by 
lack of education and culture. He reported that there 
were already in Russia about twenty-five thousand Bap- 
tists and perhaps more Stundists. He pled for help 



1 38 MODERN BAPTIST 

for the sadly, the brutally, persecuted brotherhood in 
his country and suggested that what was needed most 
was a training school for their rising ministry. He was 
invited to America and the next year he came, and he 
attended both the Northern and. Southern general Bap- 
tist bodies and found a warm brotherly welcome and 
a hearty response to his message. It was a joy to have 
him as a guest and to hear him tell in quiet, yet in 
graphic words of the sad needs and the heroic suffer- 
ings of our brethren in his home land. Baron Uixkull 
opened Russia to the Baptist world and laid the first 
foundations there for ministerial education. His the- 
ological seminary was closed by the government, but 
the aid given by the American Baptist Missionary Union 
and the work achieved by his training school, which he 
moved from Lodz to Riga, aided in bringing a new Bap- 
tist era in Russia. Ten of the younger ministers who 
came from Russia to the Philadelphia session of the Bap- 
tist World Alliance had spent more or less time in this 
school. It is good to know that though the school is 
closed by law, certain informal meetings are yet permit- 
ted daily, where instruction is given. The bulk of the 
money raised in America by Baron Uixkull is safely 
deposited in a German bank and only the interest 
is 'being used for defraying the current expenses of 
the instructions being given. 

Before freedom of belief was granted in Russia, and 
even in these later days, this heroic nobleman has suf- 
fered greatly, both in body and in possessions. He 




BARON "WOLDEMAR UIXKULL. 



(139) 



HEROES AND MARTYRS 141 

was not wealthy, but he possessed means which enabled 
him to relieve much suffering on the part of his more 
humble brethren; but his means have been diminished 
by such aid and by repeated fines imposed by the Russian 
government. His health has become impaired, but he 
fights on, true to every obligation. He says: 

"Reval, Russia: My Dear Brother in Christ: I 
thank you very much indeed for your letter full of 
Christian love. It was so kind of you to remember 
me. I was. indeed sorry not to attend the great congress 
in Philadelphia. My health is not good ; my foot makes 
me trouble. I cannot go without pain. I spent this 
summer in the Caucasus among the peoples of Ossetes, 
Ingusehees, and Tschetshenzen, who have no idea of 
Christ and His message. The Ossetes are Christian 
Greek Orthodox by name and listen eagerly to the Word. 
Nine of them are converted. They have no Bible and 
no liberty together. We do here underground work. 
You can't imagine what difficulties we have, both with 
authorities and darkness of the peoples — but Christ's 
presence is with us." 

When in xlmerica, Baron Uixkull related this in- 
cident, which gives a good picture of the situation then 
and as yet in Russia: 

"A Greek Orthodox sister came to me and asked to 
be baptized, and I tried her and she was really a child 
of God and she understood the Scriptures. But the 
others said, 'Brother, it is too dangerous; the Greek 
Orthodox will send you to prison and banish you to 



142 MODERN BAPTIST, 

Siberia/ They said to the sister: 'Go tomorrow on the 
sea shore at sunset and the brethren will come with a 
certain man, and you ask him, "Is this Philipus?" If 
he says yes, you ask him to baptize you and he will 
baptize you, and then when the police find out you are 
a Christian and ask who baptized you, you can say 
"Philipus".' How many times, how many times we have 
taken into our meetings the Greek Orthodox sisters and 
brothers! How often the police have come in a mob 
and broke up the meetings! With sticks they would 
send us away, and the preacher they would take and 
put in prison. How many times brethren have been 
sent to Siberia and died there!" 

In the following statement Baron Uixkull gives in 
his own words the story of his conversion, a story full 
of pathos and power: 

"I have been asked to tell you how I was converted, 
and how I came from death to life and from darkness 
to light. I was born a Lutheran in the Lutheran 
Church. My parents were Lutherans and the education 
I received was worldly rather than religious. We had 
no Sunday school in Russia, and dancing and driving 
were my pleasures. Through bad books and bad friends, 
by and by I became an atheist. I did not believe any- 
thing; I did not believe in God; I did not believe in 
eternity; and I was not happy. I feared to die. I 
tried to do what seemed to me just and good, but sin 
was always mightier than I.. Then God sent a revival 
to the province where I lived, and when I heard that 






HEKOES AND MARTYRS 143 

persons were gathering in their little houses, praying 
the whole night, I thought that was madness. I thought 
they were fanatics to pray and preach the whole night; 
but when I saw the life of those people I was obliged 
to say it was a good life. I knew a man who was a 
drunkard and a thief, but when he was converted he 
did not drink any more; several others paid back what 
they had stolen and confessed their sins; so I thought 
religion must be a good thing for uneducated people. 
"When, the brethren came to me and asked if they 
could have meetings on my estate, I said, 'Yes; and 
I will build them a hall where they can gather,' as I 
thought it would be profitable for me if the people 
would be honest and my servants would not drink. 
After the hall was finished they asked me to be present 
when it was opened. I did not like to attend a religious 
meeting, but thought it was right I should be there the 
first time, so I went. They sang and preached and 
prayed ; after the meeting I shook hands with the breth- 
ren and said, 'I wish you all success; may you convert 
many people. I think this movement is very well for 
the peasants.' They said, '0 no; it is well for every- 
body/ I replied, 'People with higher education do not 
need it; the Bible is a book written no differently from 
any other book.' They said, 'It is the Word of God/ 
and I went home. They had two sorts of meetings; 
one where they called sinners to Jesus, confessing their 
sins to Jesus, and then there were others where only 
children of God met; and they said, 'We will pray for 



144 MODERN BAPTIST, 

the Baron until he is converted;' but I did not know 
that they were always praying. I was troubled in my 
heart. I was alone in my home, and the Lord sent 
me difficulties, and I thought it would be a good thing 
to have a friend to speak to about all those things and 
difficulties, and I had nobody. 

"I thought perhaps the Lutheran pastor in my 
neighborhood could give me good advice, and I went 
to him. He was not a spiritual man, but God gave me 
good advice through him as I spoke to him and told 
him of my troubles. He said, 'There is only one who 
can help you ; that is God ;' and I said, 'Pastor, how can 
I pray? I do not believe in God. You know I do not 
believe in God.' He said, 'I cannot give you any more 
advice.' So I went home but was not satisfied. I found 
a book at home, a new one of Tolstoi's, very interesting, 
and I read it. It was the book 'Why Do "We Live.' 
Tolstoi says, 'We live to love, and only his life is blessed 
and happy who loves.' He says all great philosophers,, 
all wise men in the world, have also said, only this life 
is happy where there is love. He said that Buddha, 
Plato, Socrates, Confucius, and Jesus of Nazareth all 
teach it, and I liked this teaching. It was something 
I could accept. Tolstoi spoke more of Jesus than of 
Socrates or of Plato or of Buddha. I liked Jesus as a 
great man, as the French people like Napoleon or the 
German people like Goethe, and I wished to know more 
of Him. And I thought, where can I read about Jesus? 
Then I remembered my old Bible that I had when I 






HEROES AND MARTYRS 145 

was a boy in school; so I found it and began to read 
the Gospels. Jesus was very interesting to me ; His per- 
sonality, His teaching, His life, His kindness, all were 
so attractive; and He seemed to grow and grow before 
me. Then at last I thought perhaps He really is more 
than a man. I was troubled. I did not know what to 
believe or what to think. Some people say He is the 
Son of God. Some people say He is only a great teacher. 
Which is true? What shall I believe? Then I re- 
membered that the pastor told me to pray. How could 
I pray? I did not believe it. I can try. 

"My first prayer was in October, 1890, in the night. 
I prayed, '0 God, if You are there above, then show me 
the truth. I do not know if You are there above, but 
if You hear prayers, then show me the truth.' Then 
I went on reading the Gospel of St. John. The book 
was changed; there was a new light in the book. My 
eyes were also changed; there was a new light in them 
to see things in the book. Jesus was so beautiful and 
so great in my eyes that I saw He was really more than 
a man. He was truly the Son of God. Then the Spirit 
of the Lord began to teach me and to show me that if 
He was the Son of God, how precious was His life and 
His blood that He gave for us — oh how precious — much 
more than the life and blood of one man, more than the 
life of all humanity together, because humanity is only 
His creation, while He is the Creator. So His life and 
blood are worth much more, and His blood is so pre- 
cious ; then the sins of all men are paid. Then I thought, 



146 MODERN BAPTIST- 

'Well, if tlie sins of all men are paid, then mine also 
are paid/ Then came the joy, the heavenly joy in 
my heart, and then began my life — before it was only 
death. But now came the real life and the happiness, 
and I was inexplicably happy with Jesus; and I know 
that my name has been written in the Book of Life and 
my sins have been forgiven. 

"Then I thought, now you must be honest and go 
to those converted men and say that they were right 
and you were wrong. One night I went to a meeting of 
the children of God. I said, 'I have something to tell 
you — you were right and I was wrong. And now God 
has shown me the truth, and your God is my God, 
your Savior my Savior, your Bible my Bible.' They 
said, 'We have prayed many times for you, and now 
God has given us what we asked f and then we went on 
our knees and prayed and thanked God that He saved 
sinners. When we stood up after the prayer, an old 
brother put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'Now 
you must also confess Jesus because it is written, "He 
that confesses me before men him will I confess before 
My Father and His Angels." ' And I said, 'That religion 
is for better educated people; and I have not studied 
theology, I cannot preach/ They said, 'That does not 
matter; the Holy Spirit will be with you because you 
believe in Jesus, and He will teach you how to speak.' 
And so by and by I became a preacher." 

J. N. Prestridge, Louisville, Ky- 



A STUNDIST'S CONVERSION. 

The sun was going down behind the forest and his 
last rays fell across the snow and the field. The land 
stretched out in one unbroken level before the eye. 
Near the forest was a village, through which ran one 
long street, lined on either side with one-story frame 
houses, roofed with thatching. Between and behind the 
houses were small gardens. The day's task was done. 
Some of the peasants were coming into the town with 
potatoes and rye to sell; others have brought hay from 
the meadows; still others were bringing wood and dry 
branches from the forest. Animated groups were gath- 
ered here and there on the street. The news had spread 
that a stranger had arrived. And it was said that there 
would be a gathering in the evening in the house of 
Evan Kelmenko and that everyone was welcome. 

Peter Vasiliaf thought he would go and hear what 
this stranger had to say. He had heard that Evan and 
his friends did not attend the Greek Orthodox Church 
any longer and that they had removed the holy pictures 
of the saints from- the corner of the room — the pictures 
that every peasant has in his home. He knew that 



148 MODERN BAPTISTr 

Batiuschka, the priesf, was very angry because Evan 
was spreading the new teaching in the village and that 
several times, when there had been illness among the 
cattle, or a drought, Batiuschka had said that it was 
a punishment of God for the heresy, which Evan was 
spreading. And sometimes at the village saloon, Peter 
himself had spoken disrespectfully of those anti J Christs 
and heretics, ridiculing and mocking them. 

But this time he resolved he would go and hear this 
stranger. He was soon on his way to Evan's home. 
As he strode along he received many admiring glances, 
for he had a fine, well-proportioned figure. He had on 
the customary high-topped leather boots reaching to 
the knees. He wore a coat of fur, with the fur turned 
inward. He also wore a fur cap. As he approached 
the house he heard a Russian hymn, harmonious and 
melancholy, sung with a live and stirring tempo as 
it came from consecrated hearts. He took off his cap 
and went in. 

The room, large but low, was already crowded. It 
had been transformed into a meeting hall. As there 
were not seats enough, they had placed plank from 
chair to chair, thus forming rude benches. At one end 
of the room was a table covered with a white linen 
cloth, upon which were two lighted candle-sticks, giving 
an uncertain light in the room. The women were 
seated on one side and the men on the other. As the 
benches were filled, Peter remained near the door, 
standing with other young men. 






HEROES AND MARTYRS 149 

After the hymn was sung, the owner of the house 
stood and invited the people to worship God. He said: 
"God is everywhere. As near in the house as in the 
church, as near in the field as in the wood. It is pos- 
sible in a simple prayer to draw near to God. God 
is love. And God is willing to bless those who gather 
in the name of Jesus, His beloved Son. Kneeling, he 
gave utterance to the feelings of his heart. He thanked 
the Lord that his eyes had been opened and that his 
sins were forgiven. He prayed that all in the room 
might have peace with .God. He prayed for guidance 
and direction for the preacher, who had traveled so 
many miles to speak to them." 

Then the stranger stood up and began to preach. 
He first read 1 Cor. 14:20-25. Then he said there are 
different tongues in the world. There are tongues which 
curse and lie and revile the people of God. Peter 
thought: "Well, that means me. How often have I 
cursed when my horse could not draw the sled out of 
the wood. How often I have laughed at those who are 
singing the praise of God." Then the preacher said 
that God would give a new heart and a new tongue — 
a heart full of love for God and man and a new tongue 
to praise the Lord. He related how many times those 
who once ridiculed and mocked had received new hearts. 
He told how necessary it is to be guided in all con- 
versation by God, but especially when preaching the 
Gospel, in order that the hearts of the unconverted may 
be touched and they may be converted. He said that 



150 MODERN BAPTIST* 






the secrets of men's hearts are revealed and they fall 
down and worship God. As the preacher thus spoke, 
Peter fell on his knees, exclaiming: "I am the man. I 
know you tell the truth, for you have described just the 
kind of man I have been." From this time Peter at- 
tended the meetings, and though he had much to suffer 
for the Gospel, he was ever true to his new-found faith. 
This is a true recital of a Stundist conversion in 
a Russian village. If men and means were provided 
this scene might be reproduced in thousands of Russian 
villages. 

Baron Woldemar Uixkull. 

Reval, Russia. 



BLOSSOMING INTO BAPTISTS. 

The Spirit of God has been mightily at work in 
Russia and men have proved their faith by every test. 
They have endured poverty, imprisonment and martyr- 
doms enough to give us sufficient material to write a 
Book of Acts ten times as large as that in our New Tes- 
tament. 

The touch I have had with these people gives me 
faith to believe that there will grow in Russia a Protest- 
ant force which will send to us across the sea the in- 
spiration which we need in our own lethargy. 

A REMARKABLE MAN. 

I know Wassily Ossipowitch Rachoff, born in Arch- 
angel, who spent eight years in solitary confinement 
in the cloister prison at Susdal; and this is his story: 
He was twenty-two years of age when he was converted 
through reading the New Testament. He was then en- 
gaged in business in Archangel and the Spirit of God 
sent him into the surrounding villages to teach and to 
preach the Gospel to the poor. Such poor as there are 
in the district of Archangel are not to be found any- 
where else in Russia. They are so degraded by; their 



152 MODERN BAPTISTS 

poverty that they live like animals and act like them. 
The coming among them of Rachoff was like the coming 
of the Messiah. He taught the children to read and 
write; he read to the older ones out of the New Testa- 
ment; he fought their thirst for vodka and conquered 
their appetites; he preached and lived to the conversion 
of their souls. Men and women were changed, whole 
villages revived from their stupor into which ages of 
neglect had cast them. 

The priest, who himself was a drunkard and a gam- 
bler, did not relish the message of this newcomer, and 
Rachoff was driven from the district. He left the ex- 
treme north and went to the south, where no one knew 
him; he began his activity by teaching and preaching, 
living in a suburb of Odessa, where poverty and vice 
were completely at home. He felt the horror of it 
all and it overwhelmed him. He knew that Odessa was 
a wealthy city, and he wanted the help of the rich in 
his redemption work ; so in order to impress upon them 
their responsibility, he rose in his seat in the theater, 
before the performance began, and pleaded for his 
people. He was arrested, sent back across the country 
to Archangel, lay in prison, but was finally permitted to 
go. In Kiev he was again arrested, again sent across the 
country to Archangel, and again cast into prison. All 
the time he was like a brother to the prisoners. He 
exhorted, preached, ministered and saved. He converted 
his jailers so that they left the doors of his prison open, 
that he might come and go at will. 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 153 

A STORY OF PERSECUTION. 

At Archangel he performed the modern miracle of 
changing cold water into warm soup, of transforming 
slums into homes, and literally feeding the "five thou- 
sand" twice a week. Educated and wealthy people came 
to hear his preaching and he read the gospels and ex- 
plained them, while the poor ate and drank. But the 
government closed his house of refuge, forbidding him 
to feed the people or to read to them. Undaunted, he 
went from hut to hut, and his influence is felt today 
among that wretched population. He founded an or- 
phanage, a trade school and a hospital; but while he 
was at the height of his ministry he was again arrested. 
Nothing was found to incriminate him; for he had 
never taught anything contrary to the established faith. 
The governor of the city defended him against charges 
of political activity; nevertheless, he was torn from the 
arms of his father and mother, from the hundreds of 
thousands of poor whose brother he had been, and was 
sent to the Convent prison of Susdal. The mother died 
there a few months after his imprisonment, and the 
father, going from authority to authority, pleading for 
his son, was also crushed by the task and by his sorrow 
and died within a year. 

Not until two years ago (1904) did Rachoff leave the 
prison, broken in body and in spirit, a perfect wreck. 
Rachoff illustrates a type of Christianity not uncommon 
in Russia; for their are thousands and tens of thousands 



154 MODERN BAPTIST} 

of them," who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought 
righteousness, obtained promises, . . . who had trials 
of mockings and scourgings ; yea, moreover of bonds and 
imprisonments. They were stoned, they were torn asun- 
der, they were tempted ; . . . being destitute, afflicted 
and evil entreated" (of whom Russia was not worthy). 

BLOSSOMING INTO BAPTISTS. 

In the government of Saratoff there are communities 
nominally belonging to the Greek Church, which, as 
soon as religious liberty becomes a fact, will blossom 
into Baptist churches. The whole South is honeycomb- 
ed by sects, more or less like us, in faith and in practice. 

Should American churches come to their aid, they 
will find many strange things. They will find a prim- 
itive faith among these people, undisturbed as yet by 
the questionings of the higher criticism. They will 
find crude and ancient practices, down to the washing 
of really travel-stained feet; ftiey will find that most of 
these Christians believe that the Gospel is not poetry 
but real prose, and that its law is as binding today as it 
was upon the early church. They will find new, rich 
wine, which will not fit into our old wine skins. 

"God's" still "in His Heaven, and all's .right with 
the world" even in Russia. 

E. A. Steiner. 
From the Congregationalist. 



BAPTIST FILE-LEADER OF BOHEMIA. 

Tindrich (Henry) Novotny was born 1846 on the 
12th of July, in Lhota Resetova, in the east of Bohemia. 
This part of Bohemia is the purest with regard to the 
national language. In the Germanizing time (after the 
Thirty Years' War) this part remained pure Cechish. In 
the anti-reformation time this part of Bohemia had 
many secret "Bohemian Brethren". The father of Tin- 
drich Novotny was a very interesting man. He was an 
enemy of the priests and sympathized with the Protes- 
tants, who were beginning to live again in that part of 
the neighborhood. Though a Roman Catholic, he was a 
business man and the mayor of several villages in 
Bohemia, and closed his eyes when they wor- 
shiped their God in "an unlawful way". He was 
one of the leaders of the new epoch which came in 1848. 

When Tindrich was only four years old, once when 
sitting near the window, he looked through and saw in 
the street a crucifix and asked the astonish e J mother: 
"Mother* is this Jesus a living Jesus?" "Of course," said 
the mother. "But he never moves !" 

When Tindrich, his only son and his pride, started 



156 MODERN BAPTIST! 

to go to school and began to think about religious mat- 
ters, the father sent him to a secret religious meeting 
in the village (a Protestant one), and the young Tin- 
drich soon was the "reader" of the Bible to the congre- 
gation. He was soon so acquainted with the Bible, that 
when one day one of the Protestants in the village died, 
and because the pastor could not come, the young lad 
Tindrich was called to be the "pastor at the funeral." 

He preached about the text Philippians, 1:21, and 
after the funeral, the people in the villaga said to each 
other: "This boy ought to be a pastor, he ought to 
study!" When the father of Tindrich was dying and 
the Roman Catholic priest came to bring the Holy Com- 
munion, he turned his face and sent him away and 
allowed only Tindrich to read to him the Bible and to 
pray with him. 

When he died, the priest refused to attend the funer- 
al of the mayor — so he was buried in a grave, which 
was not sprinkled with the "Holy Water" (a great of- 
fence for the Catholics) . 

Tindrich remembers that when he was a boy and 
was sent by the father to the near big town, on the way 
he used to weep, because he had many inward storms; 
he saw the great contrast between the Roman Catholic 
Church and the religion of the New Testament. He 
longed for light. Once when he was again in the meet- 
ing and was reading the Bible, he decided to be a Prot- 
estant, and he said it loudly : "I want to be a Protestant, 
who will be my witness?" (That was necessary at that 




HENRY NOVOTNY. 



(157) 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 159 

time.) And he did it, still a young lad (about eighteen 
years of age). But this was only a step to his future 
complete conversion. In this time was Tindrich a very 
promising young business man. He had valuable experi- 
ences and a good capital as well; he wanted to have a 
business for himself. In the same time some of the 
Protestant pastors saw his evangelical gifts and tried to 
persuade him to leave his business and go for theological 
study. He refused for some time, but at last decided 
to obey the voice of God as well as the wish of the 
pastors. In 1870 he went to Basel in Switzerland and 
remained there in the theological seminary four years. 
Then he was called to Prague as an evangelist by an 
American mission society. In 1875 he married Anna 
Kastomlatska. In 1881 he went with his wife and two 
children to Edinburgh, Scotland, to study in the Free 
College there. After coming home, he continued in 
his work. As he was an industrious reader of the Bible, 
soon arose the question about the baptism. He helped 
himself with compromises. First of all that both the 
ways of "baptism" (immersion of grown-up people 
as well as the sprinkling of infants) are biblical; but 
it was difficult to find) the biblical arguments for 
it. The second difficulty was (when he was half per- 
suaded) that he had a good promising work in the 
church (Free Reformed) and that this question would 
mean a great battle and perhaps the loss of situation. 
The last difficulty was, however, only a little one, as he 
thought to get easily rich as a good merchant, because 



160 MODERN BAPTIST 

he used to be a very experienced business man. He 
started to preach about baptism and spoke with several 
pastors about the question. 

Soon they were afraid of his question and Tindrich 
Novotny lost his situation as an evangelist because he 
was a "dangerous" heretic on the baptismal question. 
For a short time he was alone, left alone by all. In the 
meantime the Baptists in Russian Poland (the church 
at Lodz) heard about him and called him to Lodz. 
There he was baptized, 12th of February, 1885, by 
Brother Ondra. At the baptismal service he preached 
on why he wanted to be baptized. Then he traveled 
in the different churches, and then they wanted him 
to be the co^pastor with Brother Ondra at Lodz (the 
largest Baptist church on the continent, now about 
two thousand members). On the 15th of March, 1885, 
he was ordained as a Baptist minister at Zyrardow. He 
got calls from Vienna, Austria, and from Saxony, but 
he tried to persuade the brethern to send him as a 
Baptist minister to Prague, Bohemia, to work there 
amongst the Roman Catholics. At last his ideal was 
realized, and on the 25th of March, 1885, a Baptist 
church was constituted near Prague with sixteen mem- 
bers. It was a day of small beginnings. The little 
Baptist church had a very little property, almost no 
religious liberty, no hymn books, no cups for the com- 
munion, no gowns for the baptism, but they had one 
great and valuable property, an enthusiasm for the King- 
dom of God, and this property at last brought golden 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 



161 



fruit. The greatest difficulty met at that time was the 
authorities. They wanted to destroy the Baptist church. 
The pastor was called before the court numberless times. 
He was three times before the highest Imperial Royal 
Court at Prague. The Catholic newspapers brought 
reports full of lies about us. Really there was a time 
when the pastor was obliged to go to the authorities 
every Monday to report what he was doing. One of the 
judges said: "If I could, I would put you into the 
idiot's institute!" When the number of the members 
increased, my father built at his own expense a little 
house in the suburbs of Prague. This was the 

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN BOHEMIA. 



They bought chairs and all the necessary things. 
But the joy was only for a short time. The authorities 
ordered to put out all the chairs and pews and to close 
the house. The poor pews were outside, it was raining 
on them, people laughed about it. What to do? My 
father decided to take them into his private house. 
Since that time the services were held in his house. 
The Baptist church was then let for private use. But 
the house was soon not large enough, and so my father 
by help of a friend abroad hired a larger hall. But 
because it was allowed only "in a dwelling place" a 
young brother was obliged to sleep there, as "in his 
house." Three times the church changed their hall, 
because it was always not large enough. At present 



162 MODERN BAPTIST 

we have a good hall for about two hundred people, 
where we pay three hundred and fifty dollars a year for 
the rent, and this hall is now always full. 

The beginnings were very hard. Once, when my 
father preached in a village, an armed policeman 
arrested him and he was obliged to go with him 
about two hours to the nearest' police station. My father 
used these two hours, and because he could not preach 
in the village, he preached to the policeman. In the 
police station they did not treat him very nicely and 
wanted to imprison him. He was far from home and 
they did not know anything about him, where or what 
he was. He wanted to go home, but how to do it? He 
got a happy thought: he had some visiting cards from 
distinguished English Baptist brethren. So he at once 
took those visiting cards and showed them to the chief 
policeman and then he said; "You don't treat me as a 
gentleman; do you know who I am? These gentlemen 
are my friends!" The policeman was afraid of the 
English visiting cards, and therefore .said: "Excuse 
me, sir, would you like to go home?" Of course, he 
did not wait for another invitation to go home. 

The judges got so acquainted with him that at 
last they recognized his sound ideals. Once when he 
was before the authorities, one of the judges after hav- 
ing been very cross with him, because of his endless 
preaching, called him into his private study. There he 
said to him: "Now, Mr. Novotny, I- speak to you as a 
friend, not as a judge, don't bother about us, if you 



HEROES AND MARTYRS 163 

can transgress the law very skillfully, do it, but we 
must not know anything about it." 

A very interesting event in the persecution time. 
My father came to a village and held a meeting in a 
house of one of our members. Afterwards 1 aM of them 
were obliged to go an hour and a half to the next town 
before the authorities (forty-six persons were called). 
The judge asked our host, who invited the people? 
He said: "They came alone." Then they asked my 
father, why he preached. He said: "I came to the 
house and there was a company of decent people and 
they asked me to tell them something, so I did." Then, 
the judge asked the people. One woman said: "J 
really did not know that our law punishes people who 
pray and read the Bible; I am astonished." Another 
woman said: "Please, sir, I have at home my only prop- 
erty, a goat ; she is quite alone, she would die ; will you 
allow me to give her enough to eat before I go to prison? 77 
They asked my father why he did not send the people 
home. He said, he was himself a guest; he had no 
right to do it. In the different villages the policemen 
asked the people when the Baptist pastor will come 
again, but they never said when. 

My father was a hard worker. He soon started sev- 
eral branches in his church ; Sunday school, young peo- 
ple's guild, choir, mission meetings. And he was the 
head of everything (even the organist), so that he usu- 
ally had on Sunday, seven different services. 

He was also very busy in the literary life. He 



164 MODEKN BAPTIST^ 

published for information, booklets about the Baptists, 
numberless tracts, brochures, and was for eighteen years 
an editor of a monthly religious paper. 

With great difficulty was given the religious instruc- 
tion of our children. Our children could not go to 
father's class because they had no note from the author- 
ized religious instructors. His daughter, although she 
had always in all the subjects a hundred per cent., could 
not join the further class, because she did not go to the 
instruction of the priests. Father sent one "recurs" 
after another to the "ministerium" of education, until he 
won. Today the Baptist minister is the teacher of the 
religion of Baptist children and gives his own note on 
the certificate just as the priest for his children. 

A great victory and a great help for our church is 
our Temperance Association, which was permitted by 
the highest authority in Bohemia. This is a work 
apart from the church, but in our hands. This work 
has the great sympathy of the people of Prague, even 
of people who do not sympathize with our religious 
convictions. 

Our attitude towards other Protestants in Bohemia is 
a friendly one. Although we are good Baptists, we join 
other Protestants in the "Constanz Union," where the 
subject of this story is an important member. 

Joseph Novotny, 

Pkague, Bohemia. 



A SAD CASE IN FRANCE RIGHTED. 

It was in the year 1853 ; Napoleon III was emperoi 
and the Roman Catholic clergy had full control over 
government and people. 

Yet God had never left Himself without a true 
witness, even in the midst of the deepest darkness, and 
side- fey side with the spirit of superstition and cowardice 
at large, there has always been found, in a few at least, 
the spirit of true worship and of Christian heroism. 
Such was the case in France less than sixty years ago. 

A few miles east of the city of Campiegne, the castle 
of which at that time was the customary holiday-resi- 
dence of the emperor, lies, on the border of the forest, 
the little village of Chelles. In that village lived the 
Andru family, well-to-do Catholic farmers, who, through 
the efforts of Pastor J. B. Cretin, were soon convinced 
of the errors of Rome and received the truth as it is in 
Jesus Christ. 

Every Sunday a religious service was held at the 
farm ; it was well attended, and people would come from 
the neighboring villages to hear the Gospel, and quite 
a number of them were converted right there. Of course 
the priest's anger and jealousy were kindled against the 



166 MODERN BAPTIST 



Christian farmers, and he did all he could, to force 
them, by petty trials, to cease their successful propa- 
ganda. 

The only child of the family was tabooed by the 
other little folks and finally driven out of school. At 
harvest time, Andru found himself without reapers, 
the priest having threatened with excommunication any- 
one who would work for him. But the opportunity 
soon came for the enemies of the Gospel to strike a 
serious blow against the faithful family. 

The grandfather, Francois Andru, died a Christian 
man. Pastors Cretin and Lemaire presided over the 
burial ceremony. Much curiosity was aroused in the 
community, as it was the first Protestant burial ever 
witnessed. A crowd of more than four hundred people 
listened to the preaching of the Gosnel that day; the 
hearts of many were stirred and genuine interest in the 
"new teaching" was manifested. 

It was just what the priest had been afraid of. He 
had done all he had been able to imagine to prevent 
such a result. He had gone to the mayor and, although 
the burial lot had been already bought and duly paid 
for, he had insisted that no burial license should be 
given a Protestant until the government representative 
in that case the "sous-prefet" at Campiegne, had granted 
it. Andru goes to Campiegne, sees the secretary of the 
"sous-prefet" who assures him that, in spite of the fact 
that he was a Protestant and a Baptist ; nobody had any 



HEROES AND MARTYRS 167 

right to interfere with the burial, and who gives him 
accordingly the authorization asked for. 

One can easily imagine the mad disappointment of 
the priest when he saw the ceremony taking place. 
What! an old heretic was being buried in the Catholic 
cemetery, a few yards from the church door, and that 
with the help of almost all his parishioners! That was 
unbearable. Something was to be done, and to be done 
at once. 

First, he calls upon the mayor, who says he cannot 
go against the authorization. Then he hastens to pay 
a visit to the "sous-prefet" at Campiegne, and does so 
cunningly plead his case before him, with threats to let 
the bishop know about the whole affair, that he finally 
succeeded in extorting from the government official a 
paper allowing him to have the body of the Protestant 
disinterred provided the mayor would consent to give 
his signature. Triumphing already the priest goes back 
to the village hall, unfolds the precious paper, silences 
easily the last scruples of the weak-minded mayor, who, 
after having signed the burial license, now signs the 
permit of exhumation. 

Then the awful deed was consummated. The sexton 
having refused to disinter the body, the priest had to 
go and hire drunken men to do the job. Dark was the 
night, heavy the rain. To the cemetery they went, 
guided by a lantern, carrying picks and shovels. They 
sought for the body which, after six days was already 
decomposed. With pallid faces, chattering teeth and 



168 MODERN BAPTIST? 

staggering feet, they dragged the corpse away to that 
part of the cemetery which was reserved for those having 
committed suicide. The villagers were so indignant at 
this act of savagery that, finding the cane of the priest, 
and the tools which had been used, they threw them 
all into the empty grave and covered them with earth. 

When the news of the desecration reached the mem- 
bers of the dear Andru family, they were horror-strick- 
en, as can well be imagined. They tried to obtain jus- 
tice, but in vain. The "sous-prefet" claimed they had 
not declared they were Protestants when asking for 
authorization v The mayor said he had simply followed 
the way laid out by his superior. As to the priest, he 
had, to him, the great satisfaction of getting the bishop 
to come, with splendid apparel, and consecrate over 
again the ground of the cemetery which, he said, had 
been outrageously defiled by the presence of the body 
of a heretic. 

A full account of this exhumation has been publish- 
ed by the Progres de L'Oie, of Oampiegne, in the No- 
vember 23, 1853, number. 

The rest of the story reads like a novel. Truly the 
Lord reigneth, vengeance is His, and the evil of man is 
ultimately to be changed into the glory of God. 

A few months after the above related events had 
taken place, the mayor of Chelles was found hanged in 
his garret and was accordingly buried with those having 
committed suicide. Private scandals led the "sous-pre- 



HEROES AND MARTYRS 169 

fet" to shoot himself. The priest was convicted of im- 
morality, and was obliged to leave the parish. 

The lot of the persecuted brethren was, on the other 
hand, a most blessed one. Not only in due time was the 
body of the beloved departed one given a worthy resting 
place, but through these sad experiences the family 
gained the sympathy and esteem of the whole popula- 
tion. The Sunday meetings at the farm were more 
successful than ever; some little time since eleven per- 
sons were baptized upon confession of faith. In fact, 
this was the beginning of a revival, the fruits of which 
are known even unto this day. And not the least of 
them was the conversion of the only child of the farm- 
er, Rev. Henri Andru, the beloved, honored and emi- 
nent secretary and treasurer of the Federation of Baptist 
Churches of Northern France and Belgium. 

Paul Vincent, M.A., B.D-, 

Paris, France. 



A HERO COLPORTER. 



\ 



In correspondence he signs himself, "Rottmayer 
John," though in the records his name appears as 
"Johann Rottmayer, Jr." He is a giant of a man, 
full-whiskered, deliberate of movement, solid of tread. 
One can well imagine him perfectly at home in all kinds 
of places and under all sorts of hardships and persecu- 
tions. His voice is low and is soft in tone. With some 
degree of intimate association with him for nearly a 
week, the chief characteristic which impresed me was 
his gratitude. In his home in Hungary, he had received 
on occasions some books and other printed matter, the 
grateful remembrance of which shone in his face, and 
here and there broke into words. It will be long years 
before the tenderness and might of 'his hand grasp will 
be forgotten. He is a man to be trusted on the spot and 
to be loved ever afterwards. Some of these things are to 
be seen in his face even when in black ink upon cold, 
dead paper. 

His father before him was a colporter primarily and 
public speaker as occasions presented themselves, and 
father and son traveled far and wide over a number of 
countries scattering Bibles and other religious books 
where no other messenger of the cross ever penetrated. 



172 MODERN BAPTIST 

Our hero traveled in times of eminent danger over rough 
roads where there were no accommodations, and he passed 
and repassed through and about Hungary, Austria, Bo- 
hemia, Poland, Bosnia, and the Balkan States. Far 
away from the beaten track he left a torch of light for 
whole neighborhoods, and passed on to find other dark 
places. He was the agent for the British Bible Society, 
and so his supplies were unlimited save only by his 
ability to transport his wares. 

He was born in Budapest two years after J. G. 
Oncken, the foundation layer of the Baptist faith upon 
the continent of Europe, had sent some brethren down to 
Budapest to preach the Gospel. It was greatly in his 
favor that he had a godly father and mother, a Christian 
home full of prayer and praise and of the fervor of the 
Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

In the year of 1867, young Rottmayer attended 
the "Bundesconferenz" in Hamburg, Germany, and 
there heard Charles Haddon Spurgeon preach upon sev- 
eral occasions. He says: "The sermons made a profound 
impression upon me, and a new world was opened before 
my eyes." In speaking of him, Rev. C. T. By ford, who 
knows him well and whose voice takes on a softer tone 
when he speaks of him, said: 

"The fellowship of brethren in two great churches 
in Germany had very much to do with kindling his 
spirit and in enlarging his vision. There he realized 
that the Baptists were not a mere handful of believers 
in Hungary, but a great company of believers scattered 




JOHN ROTTMAYER, JR. 



(173) 



HEROES AND MARTYRS 175 

throughout the whole world. That gave him new courage 
and added to his strength. 

"He remained over a year in Hamburg, and then for 
nearly a year in Berlin. In the latter city he met and 
came under the influence of G. W. Lehmann, the chief 
support of J. G. Oncken and other leading and progres- 
sive brethren. He was intimately associated with the 
younger Lehmann, J. G., who is now at Cassell, the 
head of the publication board of German Baptists, an 
honored brother of strong character, highly educated 
and greatly beloved. In Berlin he joined in with those 
with whom he was associated and engaged in church 
work, and particularly with the young people in Sunday 
schools and other meetings. " 

From these pleasant and profitable surroundings he 
undertook work for the Master in Holstein, and the Hart 
Mountains. His aggressive spirit could not long remain 
satisfied while communities and whole states lay in dark- 
ness. 

The laws of Hungary impressed him and he entered 
the army, and for two years he served in garrisons in 
Dalmatia and Trieste, and then in the towns of the 
Adriatic. Released from this service where we are sure 
he did not forget fotserve his Master faithfully, he began 
his work as a distributor of the Bible, with headquarters 
at Vienna, Austria. He became the founder of the 
Baptist church in Vienna, the first meeting being held in 
a secluded room. The police forbade them to sing or to 
pray, but as cautiously as they might they circumvented 



176 MODERN BAPTIST 



the police and continued to sing and pray. This church 
remains today and it is full of the sacrificial and 
fearless spirit of its founder. 

I quote again from the records of Rev. C. T. Byford, 
the commissioner of the Baptist World Alliance to the 
Continent of Europe: 

"Attempts were made in Vienna to organize a Sunday 
school, but the friends were hindered in any forward 
movement by the hostility of the police and the priests of 
the Roman Catholic Church. Owing to the persistency in 
preaching the Gospel and holding meetings for worship, 
Rottmayer was taken before the magistrates and fined 
twenty kronen (twenty-four dollars) for each offence. 
In 1906, after thirty-eight years of strenuous service for 
the Bible Society, Rottmayer resigned his position and 
retired to his farm at Kolozsvar, there to spend the even- 
ing of his days. In his retirement he has proved to be 
a tower of strength to the churches in Transylvania, fre- 
quently visiting the brethren and preaching for them, 
and on several occasions he has undertaken long jour- 
neys to Roumania and Bulgaria, there to help the brave 
men who are pioneering in these countries. His heart 
still burns with a holy passion for souls, and his chief 
delight is to be found in helping the men who are pro- 
claiming the eternal Gospel amongst the many and 
diverse races to be found in the kingdom of Hungary. 
It has been my privilege to be a guest in his charming 
home, to undertake long journeys in his company, to 
hear him sound forth the message of the cross, to meet 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 177 

with the members of his family in other parts of Hun- 
gary (the wife of the Rev. L. Preuss, of the Budapest 
First Church is' his eldest daughter) , to listen to his fas- 
cinating stories of early struggles and trials, and even 
triumphs, and my intimate knowledge of the man and 
hb dear wife has deepened my love and respect for him." 
There is no way to estimate the suffering, the faith- 
fulness, the harvests which are to follow the sowings of 
this mighty man of valor, this true soldier of Jesu'j 
Christ. To know him quickens faith and kindles 
the spirit to press on at all cost to the end. 

J. N. Prestridge, D.D., 

Louisville, Ky. 



FOUR HEROES OF THE FAITH. 



ANDREAS UDVARNOKI. 

"And He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and 
some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers." — Eph. 
4:11. 

The rapid advance of the Baptist churches in Hun- 
gary is in no little measure due to the men whom Hem- 
rich Meyer gathered around him during the first twenty 
years of his ministry. Men like Michael Kornya, Mi- 
haly Toth, Lajos Balogh, Gyorgy Gerwich, and the 
subject of this sketch, Andreas Udvarnoki, the minister 
of the Second Budapest church. 

Andreas Udvarnoki was born at Szada, in the Prov- 
ince of Pest, Hungary, on November 16, 1865. The 
son of God-fearing parents, his early training was in 
connection with the Reformed Calvinistic Church. At 
sixteen years of age he heard for the first time an itiner- 
ant Baptist preacher, with the result that he was not 
only led to surrender his life to Jesus Christ, but was 
subsequently immersed. 

He immediately began to study the Holy Scriptures, 



180 MODERN BAPTIST 

and as opportunity offered he visited the surrounding 
villages to preach the Gospel. In the year 1382 he was 
brought into contact with Heinrich Meyer, under whose 
guidance he labored in the Gospel. 

Six years later he applied for admission to the Bap- 
tist college in Hamburg, and for four years he pursued 
his studies in the Premier Baptist Preachers' School on 
the continent. His course in the Seminary ended, he 
returned to Hungary, and became the pastor of the 
church at Totfalu. 

After a year of 'much blessing in his pastorate there 
he removed to the church at Orszentnuklos, where he 
met and married his wife, a splendid helper in the Lord, 
a saintly woman and a true helpmate. In the same year 
seven Hungarian brethren who were members of the Ger- 
man Baptist church in Budapest received permission to 
found the present church in the capital city of Hungary. 
Since that time, 1895, the church has grown, until at 
the present time there are no fewer than eight hundred 
and thirty-nine members, a fine suite of buildings (too 
small for the weekly congregations), twenty-eight mis- 
sion stations, and work in no less than six counties. The 
growth of the work brought its own peculiar difficulties, 
not the least being that some of the stronger stations 
were clamoring for a settled pastor and regular instruc- 
tion in the Word of God, whilst on the other hand there 
were numbers of young men anxious and ready to devote 
themselves to the ministry. 

At last the pressure was so great that in 1905 An- 




ANDREAS UDVARNOKL 



(181) 



HEROES AND MARTYRS 183 

dreas Udvarnoki started a preachers' school in two rooms 
adjoining his own house. Eight brethren were selected 
out of the numerous applicants, and the work of the 
school commenced. Udvarnoki taught theology and 
homiletics, and helped in the other classes, teaching in 
the school three hours daily, and this in addition to his 
pastoral work, visiting his many stations and preaching 
four times weekly. 

His is a busy life ; the days are full of toil, the task 
is a prodigious one, and oft-times he would be released 
from his labors, hut the spirit of the man can be dis- 
cerned in a sentence recently uttered when talking over 
these matters and the proposal of the Baptist World 
Alliance to found a Bible school for eastern and south- 
eastern Europe: "Until that day arrives I must hold 
fast to my post, I am a soldier under the command of 
the 'Great Commander-in-Chief/ and His orders must be 
obeyed until He gives the signal to stand at ease." 

MICHAEL KORNYA, HUNGARY. 

No account of the Baptist movement in Europe can 
be counted as complete without reference to the subject 
of this story. He has been as blessed of God in his la- 
bors as any Baptist w r orker in any country in Europe, if 
not in the whole world. 

Michael Kornya was born on February 28, 1844, in 
Nagy-Szalonta, Hungary, and at five years of age he lost 



184 MODERN BAPTIST 

his father, and, owing to the extreme poverty of the fam- 
ily, he was shortly afterwards sent to be the servant of a 
farmer, spending long hours every day tending the cattle 
and pigs. Of schooling he had practically none, beyond 
being able to recognize and name the letters of the alpha- 
bet ; he only learned to read after arriving at manhood. 
In 1872, a copy of the Scriptures came into his hands, 
and with many of his fellow farm-workers he began to 
read the sacred volume, but like the eunuch of Ethiopia, 
he did not understand w r hat he was reading. The fol- 
lowing year Novak came into the district, and heard of 
the men reading the Bible, and sent for Heinrieh Meyer 
to come from Budapest to instruct the company. The 
result was that in the August of that year, Meyer baptized 
eight of the brethren and in January, 1876, eleven others 
were immersed, and in May of the same year eighteen 
followed their Lord in baptism. The thirty-six, for one 
had left the district, were then formed into the first 
Baptist church in Hungary, with Meyer as their pastor. 
In the spring of 1875, Kornya was deeply impressed by 
reading Matthew 28 :19, and, as a result, he went into the 
villages to preach. Here he won his first convert, An- 
dreas Liszt es, who is still in active sendee in Berettye- 
Ujfalu. From the latter place the work extended to 
Dereeke where a church was founded. Meyer, in 1S77, 
became seriously ill, and (he sent for John Onckeu to 
come from Hamburg to ordain the two brethren, Kornya 
and Toth. The sendee was held in Nagy-Szalonta, and 
from that time Kornya and Toth baptized their own con- 



HEEOES AND MARTYRS. 185 

verts. The work began to spread, many were brought to 
the Lord, and churches were established in eight counties. 

Meanwhile the enemy was not asleep, the clergy and 
priests stirred up bitter opposition against the two breth- 
ren, and they were frequently imprisoned, beaten with 
rods, and flung into chains. Of this period of his life, 
Kornya says, ''The persecution did not cause me to draw 
back, since the work of the Lord filled me with great 
joy." In the year 1890 he baptized more than one 
thousand persons upon profession of faith. 

Living in the center of Hungary are many thousands 
of Roumanian settlers, poor, neglected, forsaken men 
and women, counted as little better than the cattle by 
their educated and wealthier neighbors. In 1893 the 
brethren turned to these people, and began to declare the 
Gospel to them. The work was exceedingly difficult, 
months of weary waiting passed by, until at last a few 
were baptized and a church formed in Kishaza. From 
that time the work increased and multiplied at a phe- 
nomenal rate, and scores of churches have been founded. 

Kornya alone has baptized six thousand, three hun- 
dred and thirty-one since turning to them, and in the 
year 1910 he baptized seven hundred and nine who had 
given their hearts to Jesus Christ. How many churches 
there are amongst these people no man can rightly say. 
At present they have no effective organization, no census 
has been taken, and the figures change with the passing 
week. 

Kornya at present is stationed in the Bibar-Diovzeg 



186 MODERN BAPTIST 

district, whilst Toth is laboring in and around Nagy- 
Szalonta. Both, are prematurely old men, they "bear in 
their bodies the marks of the Lord Jesus," and for their 
work's sake should have a place in the prayers of God's 
people in this land. 

PETER DOYCHEFF, BULGARIA. 

To mention the Balkans to the average man is to be 
immediately plied with questions concerning fierce brig- 
ands, hardy mountaineers, wily diplomats, and the 
struggles of a people for political freedom from the yoke 
of the "unspeakable Turk," but to Baptists Bulgaria 
should be a land of intense and increasing interest. The 
story of Baptist beginnings in that land is a fascinating 
one, it can be summed up in a sentence. And they that 
were scattered abroad under the persecutions which arose 
under Czar Alexander the Third, went as far as Bul- 
garia preaching the Word of the Lord, and many gave 
themselves unto the Lord, and were added unto the 
church. It is not my purpose in this sketch to tell the 
story of the churches at Rustchuk and Lompalonka, both 
founded by Russian exiles, or of Kazanlek, where the 
friends advertised for some one to come and baptize them, 
or of the many interesting communities in that great 
land, but to introduce the Bulgarian pioneer of Baptist 
principles and practices in southeastern Europe. 

Peter LoychefT, of Tchirpan, is a giant in stature, 
gentle and winning in manner, well beloved by; the 




PETER DOYCHEFF. 



(187) 



HEROES AND MARTYRS 189 

friends who have been led to Jesus Christ under his 
teaching, a university graduate living the life of th« 
peasants around him for the Gospel's sake. 

Born at Panagurishte, a large town some sixty miles 
northwest of Philippopolis, in the year 1 856. he early in 
life followed the trade and calling of our own Carey, and 
whilst busy earning his daily bread at the making of 
shoes he was brought to the Lord, at twenty years of age, 
under the ministry of the Rev. Dr. House, a missionary 
of the American Foreign Mission Board. Shortly after 
his conversion our brother entered the missionary school 
at Samakov, a few hours' journey from the capital Sofia. 
Graduating from Samakov, Peter Doycheff crossed tho 
Atlantic, and commenced to study in the Baptist college 
at Hightstown, N. J., where he specialized in the sciences. 
He remained here three years, and then entered Prince- 
ton Theological Seminary, and passed from thence to 
the McCormick University of Chicago, where he took all 
the classes common to theological students save that in 
Hebrew. Opportunities for service in the States were 
pressed upon him, but he heard the call of his own land, 
and returned to the Balkans to work amongst his own 
people. In 1901 he was convinced of the truth of be- 
lievers' baptism, and was baptized by the Rev. R. E. 
Ferrier, of Poughkeepsie, New York. July 1902, saw 
the commencement of his work as a pioneer Bulgarian 
Baptist to the Bulgarians. He chose Tchirpan, a central 
town, in which to commence operations, and in this 
venture he had no missionary society 7 behind him, no 



190 MODERN BAPTIST 

fixed salary, not even a congregation to stand by 'his side, 
but alone he launched out into the deep, in the sure faith 
that the Lord would provide for his needs. Even today 
he has no fixed stipend. Friends in America, who know 
him and value his work, and our own good friend, Mr. 
Oncken, of England, have been able to help occasionally 
but ofttimes the bottom of the barrel has had to be 
scraped, yet through all our brother bears this testimony, 
"Hitherto the Lord hath helped me." During the eight 
years in which Peter Doycheff has been working in 
Tchirpan. he has baptized fifty-seven upon profession of 
faith, whilst others are awaiting baptism in the town. A 
chapel has been built, and several mission stations 
established. 

This autumn work has been undertaken in Kostenetz, 
and a recent visit to Sofia has resulted in groat blessing 
to the friends there, in that a serious division has been 
healed, and unity of forces has been accomplished. As 
funds permit, Brother Doycheff intends to open new 
stations at Stara Zagora, Novo Zagora, and Borisovgrad. 
At the present time three young men who have been 
brought up under his influence are being trained for 
the ministry of the Word in Bulgaria. His only son. 
Jupiter, is a brilliant scholar, the first student of his 
year in Samakov college, and both father and son are 
looking forward to the time when the proposed Conti- 
nental Baptist World Alliance Theological Seminary 
^h'all become an established fact. 

Doycheff frequently undertakes long journeys to dis- 



HEROES AND MARTYRS 191 

tant towns to preach the Gospel, and it is nothing un- 
usual for him to suffer persecution, hitter and violent 
opposition upon the part of the priests and police, and 
even to learn to take the despoiling of his goods cheer- 
fully. His wife, a worthy and faithful fellow worker, 
often accompanies him on his preaching tours aud she 
has proven her endurance as a good soldier of Jesua 
Christ. Despite this attempt of the enemy to deter him 
he has kept steadily on his way, cheered in heart by 
many conversions, by the steady growth of the work 
under his wise leadership, and confident in the assurance 
that ultimately Bulgaria will be led to the feet of Jesus 
Christ, 

NORBEKT FABIAN CAPEC, MORAVIA. 

The Baptist work in Moravia is led by a man who i3 
in the truest sense of the word a whole-hearted patriot, 
ardently longing for the political freedom of his country, 
but at the same time burning with an unquenchable zeal 
and passion for the salvation of his fellow citizens. Nor- 
bert Fabian Capec is in the very prime of life. He was 
born in the memorable year 1870, at Radcmysl, in 
Bohemia. In his veins hows the blood of the martyrs, 
for his forbears were adherents of John Huss, and weTe 
called upon to 'seal their testimony to Christ by im- 
prisonment 'and finally martyrdom. Under the long con- 
tinued persecutions, and the tremendous pressure of the 
papacy, the family became Roman Catholic, but the 



192 MODERN BAPTIST 

tradition of a better and purer faith still lived on, and 
through the years of darkness there was a love and long- 
ing for the Word of God. 

At sixteen years of age Capec/s soul revolted against 
the many evils incidental to the Romanist system, and 
he definitely severed his connection with the Church. He 
was not aware of any other churches when he set out 
in quest of truth. At last he found himself in Vienna, 
where a companion invited him to a prayer meeting in 
the hall of the Baptists. 

The strange name "Baptist" was a hindrance to him, 
but on learning that they were nearly akin in their 
principles and practices to the old Bohemian Brethren, 
and that they based their doctrines upon the Word of 
God, he ventured to the meeting. His heart was touched 
by that which he heard and experienced there, and the 
result was a surrender of life to Jesus Christ and the 
acceptance of the Holy Spirit as his guide. The struggle 
was a severe one, but at last grace triumphed, and on 
March 3, 1888, he was baptized in Vienna upon pro- 
fession of faith in Jesus Christ, and was immediately 
admitted to the church fellowship. Later in the year 
he went to Pozsony, a frontier town in Hungary, and 
commenced to preach the Gospel to the Slovacs, with the 
result that in less than three years he baptized more than 
seventy believers. During these three years he started 
a mission station in Chojnice. The work was blessed, a 
church was formed, and a building erected, in which 
the congregation met for worship. These days were try- 



HEROES AND MARTYRS 193 

ing ones to the young man's faith. Oftentimes he was 
in dire straits, and on more than one occasion had not 
even a Kreutzer (one-fifth of a penny), with which to 
purchase a glass of water by the wayside. 

The year 1891 saw his entrance into the Baptist col- 
lege in Hamburg, and during the succeeding four yearc 
he was preparing himself for what is undoubtedly his 
life's work. Finishing his course he accepted the pas 
torate of the largest Baptist church in Saxony, in the 
town of Planitz. 

Again and again the great need of his own land was 
impressed upon him. He could not quietly minister 
to an alien people whilst his fellow-countrymen had not 
the light of the glorious Gospel, and in the year 1S9S 
the great resolve was taken to go to his own people. 
Moravia at that time had not a single congregation of 
any denomination, apart from the Roman Catholic 
Church, but Capec bravely entered into the capital 
(Brunn), and commenced to preach the Gospel. The 
early days were exceedingly difficult. Priests and police 
harassed him, all manner of obstacles were placed in his 
way, but he believed that he was led by the Spirit of 
God to labor there, and continued the struggle. During 
the first three months 'he only managed to make one 
friend. After the first year's work the tide turned, and 
many began to attend the services, with the result that 
during his ten years' ministry in Moravia he has bap- 
tized more than five hundred believers, has established 
five churches, and has a number of stations in many of 



194 MODERN BAPTIST 

the chief cities of the; kingdom. At present he is 
charge of all this work, and in addition to his pastoral 
labors he is editor of the largest weekly paper published 
in Bohemia, an adjoining state on the north, and of two 
Tery popular religious magazines. 

He has the pen of a ready writer, and has flooded tho 
country with small and large pamphlets setting forth 
the Baptist position, faith and principles. 

His hymns are in use today in all the Bohemian Bap- 
tist churches, and are being sung in Hungary, Russia., 
and far off America. By his editorial work, public meet- 
ings and preaching services he has done more than any 
living man to prepare Moravia to receive the Baptist 
faith. His work has influenced the secular press, and 
frequently articles from him appear in the daily news- 
papers advocating the separation of Church and state, ex- 
posing the sacerdotal spirit of the Roman Catholic 
Church, against the baptism of unconscious infants, ad- 
vocating the freedom of the individual to worship God 
without the intervention of the priest or prelate. Re- 
cently an article of his appeared in a leading paper argu- 
ing that the time was more than ripe for a new reforma- 
tion in Moravia, as the Roman Catholic Church was not 
fitted to meet the spiritual needs of the great Slav popu- 
lation. 

Chas. T. Byford, London, England. 






BOHEMIA. 
STORIES AND THE NEW REFORMATION. 



Two girls were living in a little village in Bohemia. 
They somehow got a New Testament. They read in it 
and soon saw that the church at home was no Christian 
church. They were soon converted and they lived a 
happy life. But they thought they had discovered some 
forgotten treasure — that they were the only two Christ- 
ians in the whole world. The village soon was against 
them. They were proclaimed to be mad. Darkness could 
not stand the light. Once one of these girls went to 
Prague and she found a converted woman, as she recog- 
nized from her conversation. She was very happy, 
more than she could say, and then she exclaimed: "But 
tell me, why are we on the vast world the only three 
Christians?" "What do you mean by that?" "Well," 
said the girl, "now we are two in our village and you are 
the third Christian!" "Oh, no; there are many millions 
of Christians like you and me in the world." The girl 
could not understand and only by and by, and then she 
said: "And did you see them, did you speak with 
them?" "Yes, iand if you like, you can see them and 
speak to them tonight." That night she was for the 



196 MODERN BAPTIST 

first time in her life in a Christian meeting. Even today 
she says that was her most happy moment, when she dis- 
covered the existence of more than three Christians in 
the world. Both the girls are today Baptists. One of 
them is still a member of our church. So works our God 
sometimes without missionaries. 

Returning from the Baptist World Alliance, Phila- 
delphia, my first meeting was a baptismal service. There 
was a lad of about eighteen years, who had become con- 
verted, and he wanted to be baptized. When we an- 
nounced, according to the law, to the authorities they 
sent a message to his native village to the priest (they 
regularly do that). The priest put this letter on the 
door of the church, in order that all the people might 
know it. When the boy came home, there was a real 
trouble. He was' beaten on his face. Then they brought 
him to the priest, who had ready an explanation, that the 
boy was sorry, and that he had come back to the Rom- 
an Catholic Church. He had a "discussion" with the 
boy for about two hours and tried in every way to per- 
suade him — but that did not help. The priest said that 
he ought to obey his parents. The boy answered that he, 
too, believes in obedience, but he quoted the verse, 
Matt. 10:37: "He that loveth father or mother more 
than me is not worthy of me." The boy had always* 
ready a biblical verse. The priest said afterwards : "I can- 
not understand it; he is only a few days a Baptist and 
he knows the Bible better than our people." Then, 
when nothing would help, the father went to the author- 



HEROES AND MARTYRS 197 

ities and asked if it were possible to destroy all the ties 
between the boy and the family. The authorities didj 
not allow that, as that is against the law. The parents 
then cast him out from their home and would have 
nothing to do with him. He came to Prague to seek a 
situation and wrote home a loving letter to the parents, 
but they did not answer. 

We have a mission station in the mountains at a 
place where the anti-reformation was strong. In this part 
of Bohemia the priests (after the terrible 'battle on the 
White mountain) were not only themselves "holy" but 
even their boots were "holy", They had on their boots 
very sharp nails and they went to the fields where the 
people were ploughing and working and they trampled 
with their "holy" boots upon the people's bare feet, to 
"persuade" them, to confess where they held in secret 
their meetings and hid their books. 

In the same part of Bohemia the Bible was proclaim- 
ed from the pulpit of the Catholic Church to be a 
"poison." Nobody ought to touch it, of course, nor to 
read it. The castleans were a great help for the priests 
at that time. One cast-lean went to a village to seek 
"the poisoned books" and he found one. After a fight 
with the old man to whom it belonged, the castlean got 
the Bible. He put it under his arm and went merrily 
home to bring it to the priest to burn. On his way he 
remembered the last sermon of his priest, that the Bible 
is "poison" and that nobody ought to read it. At once 
he threw the Bible on the ground in order that he 



198 MODERN BAPTIST 

might not be poisoned. But then he did not wish that 
anybody should find it and especially a "heretic." He 
was in a little difficulty. After a short hesitation he 
chained the Bible and dragged it with him as a dog. 
The priest was very pleased with his original thought, 
and the Bible was burned on the chief place in that 
town. 

In this same town today we have twenty-five prom- 
ising Baptists. They have their own little house and 
their meetings on Sundays are visited not seldom by 
one hundred people. In the same town today the priest 
says from the pulpit that his sheep ought to be as good 
as the Baptists; they ought to (the priest says) ''be an 
example for the Catholics". 

In the tfam'e town an advocate at the bar was seek- 
ing a clerk. He announced his need in the newspaper 
and he got about two hundred applications. There was 
only one difficulty: he often left the office, where he 
kept some money, and he wanted that the clerk should 
also attend to the business when he was away. He did 
not trust the Catholics. In the whole town the people 
know that the Baptists do not lie, do not steal, and are 
true. So he wanted a Baptist. There was one young man 
(our member) with very little education, professionally, 
but he was a clever boy — and he got the situation 
and without asking for it, only because he was a Bap- 
tist. 

A married woman told her husband that she wanted 
to be baptized. He showed her a revolver and said, 






HEROES AND MARTYRS 199 

''This will help." She was obliged to wait nine years. 
At last she seized upon a happy moment and was per- 
mitted to be baptized. It was on her birthday, when the 
husband was exceptionally kind. He came to her and 
asked what she would like to have as a birthday pres- 
ent. She fell on his neck with tears and asked for per- 
mission to be baptized. He could not resist, and the 
long-waited-for consent was given. 

In one town are barracks. Somehow some of the 
soldiers heard about the Baptists, and they got our 
paper. One of them wrote to us. He said they liked our 
religion, as they saw we were like the old Bohemian 
Brethren, and they wanted to be Baptists, eleven of 
them. He said we ought to write to them, and he asked 
how much it would cost to be a Baptist — how much 
money! With our love we sent them some New Testa- 
ments, papers and hymn books — they now have their 
meetings in the woods. 

THE OUTLOOK. 

The pope never trusted his sheep in Bohemia; and 
because he feared and hesitated he may at last lose them 
all. He granted them at the start their wishes, viz., 
preaching the Gospel in the national language, the mar- 
riage of the priests and the New Testament Lord's Sup- 
per. They always protested against Romish abuses and 
men like Huss and Jerome laid down their lives for 
being too radically "Protestant". The oldest Bohemian 



200 MODERN BAPTIST 

song is a Christmas carol from, the ninth century, 
which we sing today in our services. 

But the Cechs (the popular name for the Bohe- 
mians), with all their ideals, were silenced by a grea 
sea of darkness. Bohemia was a little country surround 
ed by such vast empires, which had not the slightest in- 
terest in their ideals. Bohemia's ideals came too soon. 
Their message was born one hundred years too soon; 
the world was not prepared for it. The German-Austrian 
army made out of a Cechish Protestant country a Ger- 
man Catholic country. They took away our religion as 
well as our national freedom. Here is the only psycho- 
logical explanation — why every Cech is born with a hate 
for everything that is German — even for German Pro- 
testantism. 

Today the Cechish nation is rising. The historians 
agree that during the last hundred years the Cechish na- 
tion made progress that is almost a miracle. (See Mon- 
roe, "Bohemia and the Cechs".) If you only think for 
a moment that one hundred years ago there was almost 
not a single Cechish book, that Prague was almost only a 
German city, that almost no intelligent Cech spoke Cech- 
ish — today : Prague is a modern city of six hundred and 
fifty thousand people, ninety-seven per cent, of them 
Cechs. We have a good literature, scientific as well as 
poetical works and many books of fiction ; we have good 
translations not only of all the great English and Amer- 
ican authors but of all great books of the world; we have 
an independent university. All this is a miracle! 



at 



HEROES AND MARTYRS 201 

But the Cechs are a religious nation and this is clear 
in their resurrection. They start to live again and they 
see they must first settle the religious problem. And 
they try. All our big men, poets, scientists, statesmen, 
take an interest in religious matters. Out of one hundred 
and seven Cechish members of Parliament only seven 
are representatives of Rome! 

Here is a country full of living Christianity as an 
accumulator is full of electricity, and the Whole history 
of Bohemia is only the bursting of this electricity from 
time to time. 

The Cechs are a religious nation through and through. 
When Christianity was brought to them from Germany 
they did not at first want to accept, it, because it was 
brought with sword and fire — they understood at once; 
here are words in contrast with deeds. But when they 
read the Gospel for themselves and heard it preached by 
such men as Cyril and Methodius, they accepted it with 
enthusiasm. They distinguished themselves especially 
by loving the family life — a fact found of true Christ- 
ianity. This fact is very interesting and has a psycholog- 
ical necessity in our language. The beauty of our lan- 
guage is in diminutives, especially in nouns connected 
with the family. I am not sure if any other language in 
the world possesses this richness of synonyms. I find 
about five different terms for father, about twenty for 
girl — every term conveys a little different idea. 

We all agree that in four years, the five hundredth 
anniversary of the death of John Huss, 1915, there will 



202 MODERN BAPTIST 



r Ca- 



be a final settlement — the Cechs will choose not for 
tholicism, but between atheism and Christianity! We 
hope and believe they will choose Jesus, and then oui 
Cechish history will be interrupted never more! 

The Baptists are founded in history upon the Bo- 
hemian Brethren, and this historical foundation is a 
great "plus" for the Baptists among our people. Bap- 
tismus could at once be the national religion of the 
Cechs. All the conditions necessary for its mastering 
growth are here. 

Bohemia and Moravia, so closely linked together in 
history and sympathy, are going again to be Cechish — 
this is sure, and Christ will be our only Lord and 
King. 

Joseph Novotny, 
Prague, Bohemia. 



A COSSACK TRANSFIGURED. 

"Now that I have recovered from the gruelling thrills 
of the Baptist Alliance held in Philadelphia several 
months ago and find myself once more in normal shape, 
I find myself possessed by a strong impulse to pay in 
my own way my tribute of admiration and reverence 
to the modest and yet incomparable hero of that occa- 
sion. Giants, there were, many and mighty in that inter- 
national assemblage — men, great in achievement and 
fame and destined to live in history. To them I wave 
my good wishes, but for once they must retire from the 
limelight and give the front of the stage to an untitled 
and scarred brother, in order that his friends and lovers 
may get an ample sight of him and catch somewhat 
of his intrepid and self-forgetful spirit. 

The Philadelphia meeting was enriched with varied 
joys — joys so intense and over-mastering that they were 
close akin to agonies. There eloquence and wisdom met 
together, and their united strain was like a voice from 
Heaven; there big men abounded until they were a 
common sight; there comparisons ceased to be odious 
and grew into honorable dispute about the stars only in 
the point of their differing in their glories; there many 
talked as to who should be the greatest among them, 



204 MODERN BAPTIST 

but few indeed seemed for a moment to be thinking at 
all of themselves. 

In my little perch near the organ back of the* 
pulpit, I watched it all and weighed everything as well 
as I might, but for reasons which may appear later on 

I ELECTED MY HEART'S HERO. 

I am( asking now in this paper to have him 
enrolled as chief among the mighty. Think not that 
mine is a case of favoritism or of pre-judgment. 
Right freely I admit that in my narrowed life I knew 
nothing of a man bearing the name of Fedot Petro- 
vitch Kostromin. 

Perchance I publish my own reproach in blurt- 
ing out this admission, but let it go at that. It was on 
that Thursday morning when that grim-faced procession 
of Russians emerged from the audience and mustered 
into the organ gallery, that I gained my first view of the 
man whose worth and honor this paper is intended to 
celebrate. 

My first sight of him was a revelation; his serious 
face was his biography and his voice spoke nothing that 
I understood and yet in some way they told me of 
sorrows which could never be fully told. He had the 
look of a martyr, who as yet had no sense of being one. 
As a fact our Russian brother broke in upon us in no 
conspicuous way ; indeed,' he limped in as one who has 
almost forgotten himself. Already the Russian exhibit, 




FEDOT PETROVITCH KOSTBOMIN. 



205) 



HEROES AND MARTYRS 207 

if we may speak of it as such, under the high-strung 
and magnetic Shakespeare had already filled us with 
an over-flowing wonder. For my part I thought that the 
strain was about over and was preparing to take my 
breath and cool down. It did not stir me when a 
snowy-haired patriot with noiseless feet strode down 
from the gallery to the platform, nor can it be said 
that this old gentleman was presented with any special in- 
tent to create sensation. For my own part I am a little 
lost to know how it all happened. Fact after fact 
dropped out concerning the man and each fact was like 
a pearl and all the facts together made a wondrous 
string of pearls and before we knew it we were trans- 
fixed with the conviction that there was before us one 
of God's great men. 

To begin with it fell out that this old gentleman, 
so quiet and unassuming, was a Russian Cossack and 
that of course marked him as tough of texture, born 
to fight and trained to die rather than to run away. 
These attributes were chiseled into the old face 
and the face was so fine and even lovely that I right 
on the spot, recast several of my old notions of the 
Cossacks and almost felt willing to be one if I could 
only be of the Kostromin type. 

It added much to the charm of the moment when 
the fact came out that this gnarled old Russian had 
once been a fanatical adherent of the Greek Church and 
that, too, of the most destructive and intolerant sort. 
In those days he had a religion which delighted to 



208 MODERN BAPTIST 

extinguish the other man, who thought not as he did. 
He found in the Baptists of his country the very objects 
which his cruelty could find the fiercest joy in crush- 
ing and destroying. He looked like a lion that was once 
wild and eager for blood, but had been tamed for domes- 
tic service, but you could recognize his. type at once, 
his zeal was that of the bigot and would have hailed 
Saul of Tarsus as a comrade in playing havoc with the 
friends of the Nazarene. It was hard to tell it on Kos- 
tromin, but the fact came out that he was once a des- 
perate foe of his Russian brethren. He had that blind 
and vindictive sincerity which he mistook for religion 
and which caused him to feel that the way to please 
God was to extinguish those who did not believe as 
he did. I took a cold look at the old man and felt 
a momentary resentment. 

But very soon I came to myself. I recalled that his- 
tory brings to us ample proof that the Lord takes an 
economic interest in men who are notably effective in 
trying to overturn the truth. He sees in them a nerve 
and a vigor which if seasoned with his own grace would 
do much to help His own Kingdom. It is no rare thing 
for the Spirit of God to invade the domain of Satan 
and choose some of his stalwart leaders and bring them 
over for service in the Kingdom of Light. That was 
the way that Paul was brought in and we found out that 
same Thursday that Kostromin was also brought in that 
way. I am yet short of information about many things 
that I would like to know about the turning of Kos- 



HEROES AND MARTYRS 209 

tromin to God. Any one must see at a glance that it was 
a startling event. It was life from the dead for Kostro- 
min and it was a miracle from Heaven in the eyes of 
saints and infidels who saw the sight. 

There was' one fact about it well worth the telling. 
Our brother was brought to the Light by a Russian^ 
Baptist minister, by the name of Ivanoff, of whom we 
read in another place in this volume. We may be sure 
that Kostromin will never forget in this world or the 
other the man who brought him to Christ and truly there 
must have been mighty shouting in the forest hiding 
places of the Russian Baptists when the tall son of perse- 
cution was cut down and lay trembling at the foot of 
the cross. 

As for Kostromin's conversion, no man could look 
into his face and doubt. In every line of his counte- 
nance the news of salvation was distinctly written and 
they who saw him knew him in Christ Jesus and felt 
afresh the might and sweetness of redeeming love. 

NO NOVICE NO RAW RECRUIT. 

Americans who saw Kostromin in Philadelphia saw 
no novice — no raw recruit in the ''King's guard". He 
was not converted until he was forty and that was over 
a quarter of a century ago. He is now a veteran ap- 
proved by sendee and a full graduate in the high school 
of suffering. We have sometimes been too fast in parad- 
ing the unseasoned products of our missionary achieve- 



210 MODERN BAPTIST 

ments and sometimes we have been put to shame by the 
results, but we can have no reason for doubt on that 
score in the case of IvanofFs illustrious trophy. We 
must take a little while to unveil the trials to which 
this man of God has been subjected. Possibly no Chris- 
tian on the earth today has had so mtany adverse expe- 
riences or has been subjected to such harassing and 
appalling persecution. His espousal of the Baptist faith 
has brought upon him troubles in almost every form. He 
was never rich but he had some property — a precious 
substance with which to nourish his life and to take care 
of his household. 

Not long after his conversion he found that he 
must give up his ministry or his money. His money 
was to him the world and the issue was between the 
world and his Lord. He counted it a light thing to suf- 
fer the loss of all things for Him who brought to him 
eternal life. The fact of this sacrifice was let out at 
Philadelphia and if the baskets had gone the rounds 
of the assemblage, Kostromin would have been no long- 
er poor. 

As our brother at the first persecuted, so afterwards 
he became the target for the poisoned arrows of those 
(with whom he had been a comrade in the old days. He 
was too mighty a man to go free as a Baptist and his 
early ministry caused grave trouble in the ranks of the 
wicked. At first they muttered, then they scowled, then 
they threatened, then they hauled him to court and then 



HEROES AND MARTYRS 211 

they covered him with chains and condemned him to 
Siberian prisons. 

Of that imprisonment it is well-nigh impossible to 
speak with composure. The horrors of it defy human 
words to tell the story. It lasted for sixteen years ; it sep- 
arated him absolutely from his family and forbade 
every item of communication. Indeed, the members 
of his household were torn apart and scattered afar lest by 
some chance they should get together. He was made 
the companion of the most desperate of the criminal 
classes. No friend or lover was allowed to visit or even 
to write to him. He was practically dead to all that made 
life sweet and desirable to him. All that was left to him 
was to praise his Redeemer w T ith the rattling of his 
chains, to glory in suffering for his Lord and to bear 
brave testimony to the power of the Gospel to make life 
worth living when every human comfort was taken away 
from it. To all of his graver sufferings was added the 
continual annoyance and hostilities of the guards. For 
each day he was dragged up for examination and humili- 
ated in all possible ways; not that he had done anything 
wrong, and not that he meditated revolt or escape. His 
only crime was his faith in God and his only misde- 
meanor was his refusal to recant his Christian doctrines. 

As time lagged along his foes hit on new experiences 
for weaning him away from his Baptist faith. When 
force failed they tried the charm of gold. They sought 
to catch him with a bribe. Did they do it? Would the 
hope of liberty or the sight of money move him to 



212 MODERN BAPTIST 

deny his faith? Wrong him not by such a thought. He 
was not made of corruptible stuff. It was morally im- 
possible for a soul so lofty as his. He stood clear, loyal, 
taintless before his enemies and gave a lie to that 
meanest of human taunts, that every man has his price. 

And this is not claiming that Kostromin was perfect, 
he was not beyond the possibility of evil; he had his 
seasons of depression, his faith was capable of strain. 
He said once that he often thought of John the Baptist 
as he lay in his cell in Fort Machcerus on the Galilean 
border. He thought of those alien and chilling doubts of 
John, when he sent those messengers to Jesus to in- 
quire as to who He was. Little doubt can there be that 
he thought too of John's apparently unsuccessful life 
and inglorious end. There was a broad margin there 
for Kostromin's hard thinking, his wonderment and his 
apprehension. Might he not have fallen? 

Ah! but he did not fall. And why? Because his 
dominant mood was fully for his Master. He kept his 
eyes upward; he took counsel with the invisible and 
eternal, he endured as one who saw God. Of all this 
we have a refreshing example. His lot was cast with the 
very scum and filth of the prison. He saw in the situation 
an opportunity ; he saw in squalid creatures around him 
his needy brothers; he knew that he had in his Christ- 
ian faith what these people needed and right there he 
kindled the lamps of eternal hope and illumined the 
prison with the light of everlasting life. He held a 
revival in the Siberian pens and saw more than a half 



HEROES AND MARTYRS • 213 

hundred comrades in sorrow transformed into prisoners 
of hope. He founded a church in the precincts of 
human woe and sang the songs of Zion in the tenements 
of despair. 

BROKEN AND BANISHED. 

But meanwhile an unseen hand was guarding the 
life of this unflinching lover of the truth in a way 
which he knew not and in no small part by the miracle 
of his own incorruptible life. An earthly future was 
being built for himself. The eye of God peered into the 
pit where His servant lay and pitied him. A change 
in his favor was decreed but he knew it not and could 
never have known the strange way in which it was to 
come. He fell sick and what was that to anyone in 
that prison. Glad enough his keepers would have been 
to bury him in a shallow and dishonored grave. No 
man except those converted prisoners cared for his soul 
and what could they do to help his broken fortunes. 
But the wonder of it was that he did not die. Sick he 
was, but die he would not. He lingered until his pres- 
ence was an offense and the wearied officers actually 
decided to put him out of the prison and that seemed 
only another way to let him die. They gave him liberty 
but it was not liberty to go home, but to quit the borders 
of Russia. Never seemed liberty so empty and worthless 
as it must have seemed to this enfeebled and penniless 
preacher as he emerged from a prison where he had 
languished for sixteen years. 



214 MODERN BAPTIST 

But he went out and made his way over mountain 
and stream, through weeks of lonely tramping until 
at last with returning health and renewed vigoi 
he planted his foot on the friendly soil' of Roumania. 
There for years he lived and grew and worked, but he 
was not happy. His mother country had spurned him 
but his soul cried to go home. His life of exile was 
as bitter as the Siberian prison. At length a petition 
went up to the Dowager Queen that Baptists might have 
the right to be Baptists and to remain in the empire. 
At first she read the appeal and flung it down and once 
more Kostromin was struck a stunning blow. But never 
mind ; he had learned to labor and to wait and another 
time later on a new prayer went to the Dowager Queen. 
It was a prayer from Baptists that they might be at 
home in Russia, and still be Baptists. Glorious news in- 
deed -came back. The queen's heart had melted; the 
prayer was heard and in the answer all the Baptists in 
Russia might remain and worship and they who had 
been driven out might come home. 

It can excite no surprise that our lion-hearted 
brother is at home in the Scriptures. During the years 
of his banishment and exile, there was one friend, who 
stayed with him day and ' night, and year after year. 
To every cry of his soul, that friend gave heed and min- 
istered to his necessities without price. That friend 
was the Bible. They were prisoners together and yet 
as no chain can bind the truth, so was it true that the 
word of the Lord gave freedom to Kostromin — freedom 



HEROES AND MARTYRS 215 

of soul, and freedom for fellowship unconfined by bars 
or bonds. Someone has said that our brother knows the 
Bible by heart and whether that be literally true or not, 
it is true beyond all question, that he knows the Bible 
in his heart. He has tested it and found it the word of 
life and all-sufficient in times of supremest trouble. He 
loves it as his life; he studies it with unmeasured eager- 
ness'; it is wrought into the texture of his being; its life- 
giving power mixes in his blood and its light has proven 
mightier than the dungeon blackness of his prison. 

A WINNING PERSONALITY. 

There is a mellow charm about his personality. It 
is the lofty sobriety which marks the conqueror. It 
is impossible for him not to know the heroic features 
of his career, but he knows them as one who knows 
them not. There is no consciousness about him of being 
out of the usual. He carries with him the modesty 
Which adorned him in those pregnant days when he 
had fellowship with Christ in his suffering. It looks 
as if something of the freshness of his middle life which 
in part went out of him during the solitude of his cell 
has come back to him, now that he is free again. 

Those who live nearest to this nobleman of the Lord 
say that he has in him the charm of genuine humor. 
He can see the funny point in a story; his nature re- 
sponds to the playful and laughable. They tell the story 
on him that on his way to America, he stoutly con- 



216 MODERN BAPTIST 

tended that they were on their way to that Philadelphia 
of the olden times, spoken of in the Revelation of John. 

His brethren protested and sought to explain but 
he would have none of it. He said there might be a New 
York and a New England, but there had gone forth no 
report of any New Philadelphia and this playful contest 
he ran so skillfully that those who bantered with him 
were left in doubt to the last as to whether he was serious 
about it or not. No m'an can be well rounded in his 
greatness who is destitute of native humor. It 
is that singular and indefinable quality of the mind 
which gives light to love, ease to labor, relief to suffering, 
and even hope to despair. It is no strain of the imagi- 
nation of our Brother Kostromin finding in the midst of 
all the w r oes and wrecks of the prison something to 
amuse him, and to light up a life so confined and 
crossed. The sight of Kostromin's. face was actually 
a means of grace; it edified the whole assembly. 

He was a distinct contribution to the occasion. In 
him we saw a living demonstration of a triumphant 
faith. For my part I was made thoroughly ashamed 
of myself; I shrank into nothing and hardly felt my- 
self presentable in the Kingdom of God beside such a 
man as he was. I came out of Philadelphia with the 
spell of his personality upon me. The glow of his life 
lit up the mountains of God and I saw new peaks and 
cliffs of which I had not dreamed before. Indeed, from 
that time I have almost felt as if my Russian chieftain 



HEROES AND MARTYRS 217 

were watching me and that therefore I must behave well 
while under his eye. 

It is therefore in no trivial or extravagant mood that 
I have dared to strike off this rude picture of the one 
man who unquestionably has suffered more for Christ 
than any other man that I have ever known and it is 
with no invidious spirit at all, that I would exalt him 
to the chief place in the Baptist family of the world. 

William E. Hatcher, D.D., 

Fork Union, Va. 



JOHANN GERHARD ONCKEN, 

GERMANY'S APOSTLE. 

It is not easy to think of some of the Lord's servants 
as martyrs, even though they may have suffered much 
persecution, and even come to death in their witness 
of Jesus. Their mastery of obstacles amid persecutions 
and in the face of opposition and under trials such as 
daunt and destroy the average man, their achievements 
under difficulties that paralyze the efforts of ordinary 
men, so attest God's use of them' in the work of His 
Kingdom that they stand before our minds as heroes 
and not as martyrs. Admiration for what they were 
and did obscures the memory of what they suffered. 
Such a man is Johann Gerhard Oncken, the file-leader 
of Baptists 1 on the Continent of Europe. We must speak 
of him in the present tense, for his life is a permanent 
possession and force of Baptist life on the Continent of 
Europe. Can anyone think of Paul as a martyr? So 
masterful was his spirit under his glad bondage to Jesus 
Christ that he could do all things, could sing songs in 
the darkest night in the dungeon, and in all oppression 
was more than conqueror. He was a martyr indeed, 
and with his head paid the price of loyalty to Jesus of 
Nazareth; but we think of him as the man of faith, 



220 MODERN BAPTIST 

and cherish his memory for his work. No less a man 
than Charles H. Spurgeon, who knew him well, applied 
to Oncken the title, "The Apostle Paul of Germany." 
No one can read the admirably written life of Oncken 
by the Rev. John Hunt Cooke* without being constantly 
reminded of parallels in character, experiences and re- 
sults of the great Apostle to the Gentiles. 

The place of his birth was determined by political 
persecution and the way of his ministry lay through 
opposition, affliction and religious persecution. He was 
often crowned with physical suffering and mental dis- 
tress inflicted because of his faith and boldness. His 
latter years witnessed the victory of much for which 
he had striven and endured, and, apart from serious 
suffering in body and in the last days sad failure of 
mental powers, his days ended in peaceful and triumph- 
al honor. 

Naturally he should have been born in the small 
duchy of Varel-Oldcnberg, near the North Sea, a place 
which he loved as the ancestral home and the scene 
of his boyhood and which he visited with tender interest 
in his old age. But about the time of his birth Napoleon 
was in the ascendant and in those regions playing havoc 
with the liberties of the people. Having subdued the 
territory and asserted his sovereignty over the people, he 
was impressing them into the service of his armlies of 



* I have relied for many facts upon this volume. 




Si- 



JOHANN GERHARD ONCKEN 



(221 



HEROES AND MARTYRS 223 

conquest against neighboring lands. Oncken's father 
escaped this unwelcome service by flight to London, 
and so it came to pass that our German hero was born 
in England; and that, again, had much to do with the 
nature and success of his career. This was on January 
26, 1800. Two years later the father had died and the 
orphan child was carried back to Varel to be brought 
up by his grandmother. 

A worse affliction than Napoleon's tyranny cursed 
the land. French domination brought in rationalism 
and infidelity, and in their wake followed licentiousness 
and every form of depravity. When Chicken entered 
upon his ministry but one German pastor in Hamburg 
was preaching the Gospel based on the Incarnation. 

In 1823 Oncken accepted appointment under the 
Continental Society as missionary for Germany, and in 
December located in Hamburg to begin work. Having 
joined an Independent congregation in London he car- 
ried a letter to a church of that denomination in Ham- 
burg. Here the pastor, Rev. T. W. Matthews, had the 
insight at once to perceive the worth of the young 
missionary and not only took him to live in his own 
home but provided a suitable room for his work. Pastor 
Matthews also gave Oncken a pocket Bible with an 
inscription that was to prove significantly prophetic for 
both the men. It was a quotation from Joshua 1 :8 : 
"This book of the law shall not depart out of thy 
miouth; but thou shalt meditate thereon day and night, 
that thou may est observe to do according to all that is 



224 MODEKN BAPTIST 

written therein; for then shalt thou make thy way pros- 
perous, and thou shalt have good success." Had Mat- 
thews known the course God had planned for Oncken 
and wished to lead his mind into it and prepare 
his heart for it, no text in all the Bible could more 
fitly have been chosen. And likewise no passage 
could more fitly set forth the attitude and out- 
come of Oncken's life. Cooke well says: "Mr. 
Oncken was what, in olden times, was called 'a 
right Bible man/ Ho believed in plenary inspiration 
and in the infallibility and authority of the Bible; its 
word was to him the end of strife, 'Holy writ' was 
God's word written, the Bible was the word of God." 
God had providentially led him to Hamburg to begin 
his work and now he binds him up thus with Matthews. 
Later when Matthews learned that Oncken was being 
led by the command of the word of the law to the 
Baptist position and was contemplating baptism he 
urged him by no means to do this. To enlighten 
Oncken he preached a sermon on the subject, by which 
Oncken was the more confirmed in his course and two 
Methodist ministers in the audience were led to become 
Baptists. The sermon was also not without its influence 
on Matthews himself since he later became a Baptist 
pastor in London and at length in Boston. 

BEGINNING OF HIS WORK AND HIS PERSECUTIONS. 

But here we have gotten ahead of the story. No 
sooner had the missionary begun active work in 1824 



HEROES AND MARTYRS 225 

than opposition began, soon to express itself in persecu- 
tion. His work was that of an evangelistic colporter, 
in connection with Which he very soon began holding 
meetings in which he preached repentance and the 
regenerate life. Such preaching to people practically 
all hereditary church members to whom the sacrament- 
al functions of "baptism" and confirmation had been 
administered, treating them as if unsaved, involved the 
practical denial of the saving efficacy of the Church. 
Oncken was not a member of the state Church and had 
no legal warrant for preaching. To minister to an In- 
dependent church community, made np mainly of 
foreigners, as in the case of Pastor Matthews, was a very 
different matter from general evangelistic preaching 
which could be condemned for proselytizing. Oncken's 
ministry and his gospel were both in contravention 
of those of the state Church. 

In 1825 he originated the first Sunday school in 
Germany. This meant a new cause for opposition. Of 
the twenty-five Lutheran ministers then in the city 
but one approved this "English plant" being rooted in 
German soil. So fierce did persecution become, the 
missionary was driven to holding meetings in cellars, 
garrets, vile and obscure alleys and such out-of-the-way 
places as he might gather the people into. He had 
been getting his Bibles 1 through a friend from the 
depot of a society whose manager was a "Rationalistic 
pastor." When once he sent a messenger direct for a 
supply the agent said : "What becomes of all the Bibles, 



226 MODERN BAPTIST 

does the man eat them? He shall not have any more." 
"Mr. Oncken then went himself, but when the pastor 
heard his name he exclaimed, 'So you are the man that 
preaches in cellars and garrets, everywhere! Your 
cursed preaching! Whoever told you to preach?" He 
replied, The Lord Jesus has commanded me to preach. 7 
'The devil has commanded you/ was the reply as he 
sprang to his feet in a rage." 

In 1826 Oncken fled from Hamburg to Bremen, 
where many were led to the Lord in his meetings; but 
the next year he is back in Hamburg. The year 1828 
was very notable in the life of our hero. Then it was 
he became agent of the Edinburgh Bible Society, a 
position Which he held for exactly fifty years, during 
which he distributed more than two million Bibles and 
almost innumerable tracts, and retired from this office 
with the signal honor of the society. In the same 
year he began a book business which he also maintained 
until 1878 when, according to his own plans, he turned 
it over to the German Baptist Union to be conducted 
in connection with the American Baptist Publication 
Society, while he received an annuity of a thousand 
dollars until his death. 

ON THE WAY TO THE BAPTISTS. 

Already Oncken had "doubts of the scripturalness of 
the rite generally called baptism, both of the mode of 
its ministration by sprinkling and of the subjects, un- 



HEROES AND MARTYRS 227 

conscious babes/' so that he was unwilling to yield to 
the urgent wish of the Lutheran ministers in Bremen 
that he accept orders and a pastorate in that church. 

In 1829 he faced the question of christening his first , 
child and declined to have it done. He was now m the 
highway to the complete Baptist position at which he 
arrived five years later. 

The account of his journey to the Baptist fold can 
be taken largely from his address at the twenty-fifth 
anniversary of the Hamburg Baptist church: "AVhen it 
pleased God to call the poor sinner, who is now address- 
ing you, to His fellowship, and he had learned to love 
the Holy Scriptures, it soon became a fixed principle 
for the remainder of his life, in matters ot faith not 
to accept anything, whoever might have believed and 
taught it, unless it could be proved clearly and distinctly 
by a word recorded by the Holy Spirit. * * * it became 
clear to him, although he had previously not hen re! or 
known of Baptists in America or England, that infant 
baptism, or more correctly, infant sprinkling, had no 
place in the New Testament." As to the act of baptism 
he was similarly led. "Gradually he perceived it to be 
alike the blessed privilege and sacred duty of all those 
who have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit to follow 
the Lord in baptism. Some other brethren at the same 
time arrived at the same conviction. There was, how- 
ever, no Philip at hand. In 1829- 1 wrote for the first 
time to a baptized Christian, Mr. Robert Haldane, of 



228 MODERN BAPTIST 

Edinburgh * * *. This dear man gave me the extra- 
ordinary advice to baptize myself. * * * from Matthew 
to Revelation I could find no case of self-baptism, and 
* * * would not act on my own responsibility. Brother 
Lange, who shared my views, found with me that our 
only recourse v/as prayer, * * *. Some few desired that 
we should at least together partake of the Lord's Supper, 
but to this I could not consent, feeling sure that, if the 
work was begun in a wrong manner, it would also be 
continued in a wrong way, and I cannot now sufficiently 
praise the Lord that He overruled us in the matter and 
that we did not venture to constitute a church for which 
we have no example in the New Testament. I then wrote 
to Mr. Ivemey, a Baptist minister in London, who, in 
reply, asked me to come to London to be baptized there, 
but at the time I was so fully engaged with pressing 
work concerning the Kingdom of God, that I did net 
feel justified to undertake a journey which would, in 
those days, have necessitated an albsence of two months.'' 
The next winter God sent to Hamburg an American, 
Captain Calvin Tubbs, whose ship was icebound and he 
was compelled to spend six months in Hamburg. He 
met and had fellowship with Oncken and his friends and 
upon his release reported the case to the Baptist Mission- 
ary Society in Boston. They, in turn, found in Prof. 
Barnas Sears, going to Germany for study in 1833, an 
opportunity to minister to the waiting brethren. Dr. 
Sears found "a man interesting from every point of 
view. He is about thirty years of age, married in Eng- 



HEROES AND MARTYRS 229 

land, and is well acquainted with the English language. 
He has not, indeed, had the advantage of a very learned . 
education, but possesses a clear and penetrating under- 
standing, is well read, a man of unusual practical ex- 
perience and of a very agreeable appearance and 
gentlemanly manner. He has the confidence of Tholuck, 
Hahn, Hengstenberg, and many other distinguished 
men of the Evangelical party, who are associated with 
him in the distribution of Bibles and tracts." This 
was in the -summer of 1833. Dr. Sears regarded that 
"Oncken and his friends were ready and fully pre- 
pared to receive baptism, but as Oncken was just on the 
point of starting on a journey to Poland, for the Scotch 
Bible Society, and did not consider it wise to leave the 
little flock immediately after they had been baptized, 
the baptism was postponed until in April, 1834. Pro- 
fessor Sears came from Halle, * * and the important 
baptism took place." On a beautiful evening "the little 
party left the city, soon after sunset * * ; these faithful 
disciples knew well that they were in danger of being 
punished and having their goods seized by the authori- 
ties of the city for daring thus to obey their Lord's 
precept and command. There was also a certain gloomy 
prison, the spirit-crushing interior of which their leader 
was to know only too well. The brave little party con- 
sisted of J. G. Oncken and his wife, Sarah Oncken; a 
shoemaker and his wife, Diedrich and Henrietta Lange; 
another shoemaker, Heinrich Kruger; a looking-glass 
maker, Ernest Buckendahl; and Johannes Gusdorf, a 



230 MODERN BAPTIST 

Jewish proselyte and linen draper/' with Professor Sears. 
There, in the twilight that lingers so beautifully under 
Northern skies, these seven put on Christ in baptism 
and inaugurated a new era in Germany and all Europe, 
They returned joyfully to the city in the darkness of 
the night and in darkness so far as their earthly future 
was lighted by anything but hope in God for whom they 
were ready to suffer all things. 

At once these Baptists fell under the contempt and 
suspicion of all the truth and slander that tradition had 
brought down through two centuries concerning Ana- 
baptists. Inevitably they would be misunderstood and 
even friends who did not censure would necessarily be 
separated from them. This Oncken had fully reckoned 
in the price of obedience and in all his persecutions 
bore himself absolutely without bitterness and in tha 
manner of the true Christian, seeking the good of even 
his enemies. He was secretary of a German tract society 
which now severed relations with him ; he had to give up 
his work in the Sunday school which he had founded? 
and of course he surrendered his membership in the In- 
dependent church. 

One serious consideration leading him to separate 
himself from pedobaptism was his concern for the con 
verts and friends made in evangelistic labors and to 
whose spiritual needs he would minister the better if 
formed into New Testament • groups of believers. But 
now many of these would go no more with him^ whik 



HEROES AND MARTYRS 231 

influential friends of this work who stood high in the 
Lutheran church could no longer be friendly. 

Because the course of the Baptists was in violation 
of law their baptisms were administered at night and 
the enemies seized upon this fact to circulate scandalous 
stories about the Baptists. They determined to brave 
tihe consequences of open obedience before all men. The 
authorities sought to stamp out the innovation by offer- 
ing to Oncken a free passage for himself and family 
to America; but God had placed him in Germany and 
there he must proclaim the word. He would not leave. 
He was thrown into the Winserbaum prison, Which 
rose up out of the waters of the Elbe, the stench of 
whose filth added to his suffering and planted seeds of 
disease from which in after years he suffered much. 
His friends would gather on Sundays on a near- 
by bridge and wave to him' greetings which he un- 
derstood. It was not long until he one night heard in 
a cell above him, singing in a voice that he recognized 
as that of his friend, Lange, and he joined with him 
as Paul with Silas in Philippi, so long before. The 
saints found means of communicating with him by 
use of a false bottom in a coffee pot, by inclosing notes 
in bread and in other ways. The prison guard detected a 
note inside a loaf and demanding it, read, "Dear brother, 
the Lord's work goes on well, may that comfort and re- 
fresh your spirit. Yesterday we met in twelve places; 
the police were hunting for us but failed to find us." 



232 MODERN BAPTIST 

IN PRISONS OFTEN. 






It would be useless to tell of all the persecutions 
Oncken suffered. It is doubtful whether he himself 
had any record of the times he was in prison or the 
many fines he refused to pay only to have his goods 
taken away. These things continued in his own city 
until in 1857 full tolerance, and in 1858 religious equal- 
ity was declared in Hamburg. Outside Hamburg and in 
his two journeys into Russia his sufferings continued 
through his entire ministry. After 1848 Oncken was 
largely at liberty in Hamburg. In that year political 
upheavals stirred Europe and revolution spread in Ger- 
many . It was found that although they greatly de- 
sired increased freedom, "not one of the five thousand 
members" of the Baptist churches took any part in the 
revolutionary movements; a leading official, Senator 
Binder, said to Mr. Oncken: "Your conduct and that 
of your members has been so noble, that we must give 
you all you ask, and henceforth .anything I can do to 
serve you, I shall be happy to do." This was the same 
man who early in the movement had declared that 
"everything possible would be done to root out the Bap- 
tist heresy ;" and, when Oncken had reminded him that 
no purely religious movement had ever been suppressed 
by force and that he would find his labor in vain, re- 
plied: "Then it shall not be my fault, but so long as 
I can move my little finger, it shall be raised against 
you." 



HEROES AND MARTYRS 233 

LAYING FAR-REACHING FOUNDATIONS. 

These missionary journeys were a feature of all his 
ministry, and for fifty years Oncken was the recognized 
father of the Baptist brotherhood scattered throughout 
Germany and with groups in Vienna and other Austria- 
Hungarian centers as well as in Denmark and Russia. 
Many of these he. had formed in spite of the watchful 
and pursuing vengeance of the authorities. Driven away 
from one community he would flee to another and 
leave behind a line of baptized converts. Then he must 
visit again the brethren to see how they fared and 
confirm them in the faith. He was also much given to, 
and gifted in, the writing of letters by which he en- 
couraged those whom he could not visit. In 1849 he 
began the more formal training of ministers, beginning 
what came to be the Hamburg Theological Seminary. 
He found from time to time that God was giving him 
able men for helpers. In 1837 he baptized six converts 
at Berlin and founded the church there, including G. W. 
Lehmann, a man of learning and power, two of whose 
sons have succeeded the distinguished father in great 
service to the Baptist cause in Germany. 

In 1835' the American Baptist Missionary Union 
appointed Oncken their missionary and as such gave 
him splendid encouragement and such financial support 
as was possible through all the years. In 1853 he made 
an extended trip to America which was a joy to him 
and a blessing to others. But he was caught in a dis- 



234 MODERN BAPTIST 



astrous railway wreck, from the effects of which he 
never fully recovered. 

When he gave up his labors he had experienced much 
suffering for his Lord, but he had also seen the sal- 
vation of the Lord. "His safety and even his life were 
often endangered by the fury of mobs, and until 1848 
he was subjected to expulsions 1 , fines and imprisonment ;" 
in one state a reward was offered for his arrest; "in 
Denmark he was declared an outlaw and a judicial de- 
cree was issued threatening with the severest penalties 
any person concealing his whereabouts," while a reward 
was offered to any who would reveal him. Of this period 
Oncken has written : "Our baptisms all took place under 
cover of the night and on my missionary journeys * * 
I was banished successively from almost every state in 
Germany. I could never travel as an honest m<an by 
daylight, but was compelled to journey on foot in the 
darkness, to hold services, examine candidates, admin- 
ister the ordinances, and form churches in the dead of 
night, and take care to be across the frontiers before the 
break of day for fear of my pursuers." He had also the 
distress of seeing his converts suffer the most bitter per- 
secutions. 

HE SAW THE HARVEST RIPENING. 

But in the end he saw all the varied institutions of 
free Christianity growing up, a large measure of religious 
freedom gained in Germany and elsewhere; he could 






HEROES AND MARTYRS 235 

meet with the German Baptist Union of more than one 
hundred and fifty churches, thirty-one thousand, three 
hundred and forty-eight members, seventeen thousand 
Sunday school children; he knew of thousands of Ger- 
man Baptists who had gone to America; he had com- 
munication with growing Baptist communities in Aus- 
tria, Bulgaria, Roumania, Hungary, Poland, Holland, 
Switzerland, Transcaucasia, and throughout Russia. It 
was wonderful the progress of one lifetime. And more 
than any one man God had used him to accomplish it. 
When the infirmities of age called him away to Zurich 
to await the summons of the Master, he went with the 
love of many thousands to whom he had brought the 
light of God; and could in peace commit his soul and 
his service to God. They carried the body to Hamburg 
and erected a memorial stone, an obelisk of granite, on 
which is inscribed: 

JOHANN GERHARD ONCKEN, 
BORN 26 JANUARY, 1800, 
DIED 2 JANUARY, 1884. 

"One Lord, one faith, one baptism." — Eph. 4:5. 
"And they continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doc- 
trine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in 
prayers." — Acts 2 :42. 

January 26, 1900, his centenary was observed in the 
Hamburg^ church and a tablet erected to commemorate 
his life and work. His biographer says of him: "He 



236 MODERN BAPTIST 

was the pioneer and leader of the great free church 
movement on the continent of Europe with its attend- 
ant development of liberty both of thought and action." 
Dr. Joseph Angus wrote: "No man more deserves to 
be remembered and honored for the grace in him. He 
has done more for evangelical truth on the continent 
than any other man — than any number of men in 
this century." Spurgeon came increasingly to admire 
and love him and when the new chapel was opened 
for the Hamburg church in 1867, went to make an 
address and had great satisfaction in renewing fellow- 
ship with a man of whom he wrote at his death: "That 
country has, lost in Oncken a much greater man than 
she will today believe." He was the leader of that body 
of which Principal Cairns once wrote: "I have just re- 
turned from Germany, where I find that by their char- 
acter, losses and advocacy, the Baptists have secured 
for themselves and others, religious liberty — little short 
of a second reformation." Such achievement is won only 
by suffering; but is worth suffering to win. 

W. 0. Carver, Th.D., 

Louisville, Ky. 



A ROLL CALL OF CHINESE MARTYRS. 

"Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast not thou 
made a hedge about him, and about his house, and 
about all that he hath, on every side? Thou hast 
blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is in- 
creased in the land. But put forth thy hand now, and 
touch all that he hath, and he will renounce thee to 
thy face." 

This sneer of the wicked one has been often repeated 
through the ages and often Jehovah has permitted Satan 
to do his worst in testing God's people, with the result 
that they have gone through the fire without faltering. 
One of the latest and most marked examples is that of 
the native Christians in China during the Boxer upris- 
ing in 1900. This Boxer movement was not primarily 
antagonistic to the Christian religion. It was an upris- 
ing against all foreigners, resulting largely from politi- 
cal conditions. The missionaries were included simply 
because they were foreigners and the native Christians 
suffered, not so much because they were Christians, but 
they were regarded as followers of the foreigners. 

The whole aim of the persecution was intended to 
force the native Christians to give up a religion which 
had been introduced by foreigners. 



238 MODERN BAPTIST 

Almost the whole world doubted the genuineness of 
the Christianity of the Chinese. The epithet "Rice Chris- 
tians" was universally on the lips of ungodly men and 
not infrequently uttered by professing Christians in this 
country. In its full meaning, it was an emphatic repe- 
tition of the sneering words of Satan concerning Job. 
But the fateful summer of 1900 proved the profound 
falsity of the charge. The eleventh chapter of Hebrews 
was repeated in every particular, condensed into a nar- 
row scope of space and time and brought up to date. 
When the awful cry, "Kill! Kill!" rang through all 
the cities and villages of several provinces, especially in 
North China, and sword and fire devastated the country, 
thousands upon thousands of Chinese Christians suffered 
the loss of all things, endured the most fiendish tor- 
tures and thousands of them went bravely to the mar- 
tyr's death. "So great was the heroism which many of 
them displayed that their murderers cut out their hearts 
to discover, if possible, the source of such splendid 
courage." 

The wonder grows when we realize that for most of 
them, it was the easiest thing in the world to escape 
either loss, torture or death. They were given the oppor- 
tunity to recant either in words, by burning a stick of 
incense in an idol temple or by trampling upon a rude 
figure of the cross, drawn in the road. It was the express 
wish and command of the authorities that they should 
recant and preserve the peace. Their heathen friends 
and relatives stood by entreating them, for the sake of 



HEROES AND MARTYRS 239 

their country and families, to deny their Lord by word, 
or act, at least as a temporary expedient, even though 
they did not mean it in their hearts. We must remem- 
ber that in China the lie of expediency is very common 
and is held by the sage Confucius as being entirely justi- 
fiable; "yet thousands of them faced entreaty, promise, 
threat and torture and to the death refused to deny 
their faith in Jesus Christ or to offer worship to the im- 
ages in the home or the temple." 

It would be unreasonable to expect that all the 
Chinese who professed to be Christians could stand 
the test. There were some church members who were 
not truly converted and they deserted as soon as danger 
approached, and there were a few "babes in Christ" who 
were swept before the awful tempest that broke upon 
them. But the wonder is that there were so few of either 
class. They constituted only a small fraction of the 
whole number of professing Christians and most of 
them afterwards came back to the churches and like 
Peter, with bitter tears and broken hearts, lamented 
their cowardly denial of their Lord. 

The greatest number of Baptist martyrs in 1900 was 
in connection with the English Baptist Mission in 
Shansi Province. 

The loss of missionary lives is said to have been 
greater in this province than that in all the other prov- 
inces together and the slaughter of the native Christians 
was terrible. The reason for this is that the notorious 
governor, Yu Hsien, had been transferred from Shan- 



240 MODERN BAPTIST 

tung to Shansi and had here a free hand for the execu- 
tion of his treacherous, blood-thirsty designs, unre- 
strained by the presence of foreign marines. The number 
of Chinese Baptists that suffered martyrdom in this prov- 
ince is variously estimated, one hundred and twelve 
being the lowest figure given. All the other native 
members of Baptist churches were scattered, hunted like 
wild, beasts as they hid away in grain fields and in caves of 
the mountains and they suffered the loss of all that they 
had. It is said that the fidelity of the native Christians 
in this province was indeed remarkable for two reasons ; 
with few exceptions perfect immunity from persecu- 
tion was assured to all who obeyed the governor's orders 
to renounce Christianity and it was; the first generation 
of Christians who had to stand the test, as none of those 
in mature life had become Christians in their youth. 

FOR LOVE OF THE MISSIONARIES. 

Many of the native Christians who suffered martyr- 
dom could have easily escaped but for their fidelity to 
the missionaries and their efforts to protect those to 
whom their hearts were bound by ties of gratitude and 
of faith in one Father. 

One of those who thus suffered was a Mr. Chang. 
When a group of English Baptist missionaries were flee- 
ing for their lives from Hsin Chou, they were welcomed 
to the home of Mr. Chang. - He was a noble ChristiaD 
man and did everything possible for their relief; but as 



HEROES AND MARTYRS 241 

they were not safe in his home, they were carried to a 
refuge in a mountain cave. A few days later, Mr. Chang 
started to visit them. On the way, he was captured by 
villagers who held him until Boxers from Hsin Chou 
arrived. These Boxers were seeking the hidden foreign- 
ers and demanded that Mr. Chang should guide them. 
He resisted all their promises and threatenings and reso- 
lutely refused to give a clew to their whereabouts and 
when they set upon him with swords and sticks, he 
endured unto death without betraying his friends. 

Another noble Christian man, a Mr. Ho, sixty years 
of age, had accompanied the missionaries on their flight 
and remained with them in their hiding place for about 
two weeks. Then he went out on a scouting expedition 
to see if it were possible for them to escape. He fell into 
the hands of the Boxers who delivered him to a magis- 
trate. He was put in handcuffs and the next day sunV 
moned to the Judgment Hall and asked to tell where 
the missionaries were hiding. The old man refused to 
tell and the angry magistrate commanded his officers to 
beat him with the bamboo. Repeatedly, the cruel 
strokes were stayed for the question, "Where are the 
foreigners?" But the lips of the sufferer still refused to 
answer. He was mocked and taunted, but nothing could 
wring from him his precious secret. When a thousand 
heavy strokes had fallen on his bleeding body, he was 
dragged to a prison, half insensible, still handcuffed 
and his feet were placed in the stocks. For four days 



242 MODERN BAPTIST 



he suffered cruel tortures and went down to death with 
his lips still sealed. 

At Shou Yang, a Rev. Mr. Pigott and his wife, with 
a number of other missionaries, had carried on for a long 
time an independent work which was very successful. 
It is not certain, but is probable that these independent 
missionaries were English Baptists. In 1900, the work 
was taken over by the English Baptist Mission and Dr. 
E. H. Edwards, a brother of Mrs. Pigott, is still con- 
nected with the work. A young shepherd, by the name 
of Li Pai, purchased from Mr. Pigott a copy of the gospel 
of Luke. He was greatly impressed by it and gave up hia 
idol worship. "When Mr. and Mrs. Pigott visited his 
village, he took from his bosom, the little book, carefully 
wrapped, saying eagerly, "I have read about Jesus in 
this book. He was a wonderful man and did great 
work. Who was he? Why did they kill him?" In a 
little while, this earnest inquirer became a true believer 
in Jesus as his Savior, and giving up his work as a shep- 
herd, had gone to help the missionaries in Shou Yang. 
When the awful storm of persecution broke, he did all 
that he could for the missionaries. When the magistrate 
ordered the missionaries to leave, Li Pai gathered all the 
Christians together to receive the farewell message of 
Mr. Pigott. A Christian woman who was in the hospi- 
tal for treatment and her husband Yen Lai Pao, at once 
invited the missionaries to their homes in a lowly mount- 
ain village a long day'3 journey away. For this kindly 
service, the entire family of this Christian man and 



ith 



HEROES AND MARTYRS 243 

I 

woman were hunted down through the mountains, cruel- 
ly tortured and slain until only six were left out of a 
large number. 

It was Li Pai, who guided the Christians to their hid- 
ing place. When they were found by the Boxers and 
Mr. Pigott knew that there was no longer any chance 
to escape, he took Li Pai aside and urged him to leave 
at once for the province of Chihli, knowing that in this 
way the young man could easily escape ; but Li Pai said, 
"I do not wish to leave you. Wherever you go, I am 
quite willing to go." Mr. Pigott still urged his faithful 
friend to leave because he could not help by remaining. 
Li Pai protested. Then Mr. Pigott said firmly, "You 
must go." Thus forbidden to accompany the mission- 
aries, who were compelled to return to Shou Yang, Li 
Pai followed at a distance until he saw them enter the 
city gate about midnight. Then he took refuge in an emp- 
ty shed by day and stole out at night to enquire about his 
beloved friends. For several days, he had nothing to 
eat except grass and a little unripe grain which he gath- 
ered. Hearing that the missionaries were to be sent to 
Tai Yuan Fu, he stationed himself on the road that h© 
might get a glimpse of them. He followed them all the 
way, traveling by night to avoid discovery. Then he hid 
outside the city, drawn by his love for the missionaries 
to risk all in order to be near them and to know their 
fate. At last all the missionaries were cruelly murdered, 
For two days, Li Pai wandered aimlessly about, stunned 
with grief and then made his way to Chihli Province 



244 MODERN BAPTIST 



after seven weary weeks of wandering. After the storm 
was over, he met Dr. Edwards in Tsientsin and told him 
of the death of his sister, Mrs. Pigott. It was the last 
pathetic service which he could render to those whom 
he loved. 

FAITHFUL WITNESSES. 

Many of these Christians suffered death because of 
their fidelity in witnessing for Christ. One of these 
was Choa Hsi Mao, who was so well known as a Christian 
that his friends urged him to leave his home, and seek 
a hiding place, but he refused to flee. In July, the 
Boxers seized him with his nineteen year old wife, his 
mother and his sister, placed them bound upon a cart 
while their home was going up in smoke. Though they 
knew that they were on their way to the martyr's death, 
they sang together the hymn, "He Leadeth Me" and their 
hearts were strengthened as they sang: 

"E'en death's cold wave, I will not flee 
Since God through Jordan leadeth me." 

When they reached a vacant spot outside their 
own village, they were taken from the cart. The man 
was first beheaded with a huge knife used for cutting 
straw. Still the faith of the women did not fail them. 
They would not recant. The old mother said, "You 
have killed my son. You can kill me," and the cruel 
knife did its work. The sister and the young wife were 






HEROES AND MARTYRS 245 

still steadfast and the sister said, "My brother and moth- 
er are dead. Kill me too. I will not recant." When 
only the young wife was left, she pointed to the three 
bodies saying, "You have killed my husband, my mother 
and sister ; I will go with them/' and she too was num- 
bered with the martyr roll. 

Another man of considerable influence and distinction, 
because he had been conspicuous in preaching Christ to 
his neighbors, was Mr. Hsi, who was seized by the Boxers. 
He was bound and taken to a temple where he was com- 
manded to bow to the Boxer leader. He replied, "I am a 
child of God. I will not kneel to devils.' 5 In a great 
rage, the leader ordered him to be beaten. Prone on the 
ground, with blows falling on his body, he still refused 
to kneel. His hands and feet were bound together be- 
hind him' and slung on a pole, he was carried outside 
the village and put to death by the sword. Tw3 of his 
friends had been tried in the village temple and the 
Boxers had decreed that they must die unless they 
recanted. This they at once refused to do. They were 
carried to the spot where Mr. Hsi's body lay and given 
a last chance to renounce Christianity, but, loyal to 
their Master, they chose to die. 

Another faithful witness was Mr. Chou, who had 
been placed in charge of a village chapel. On the ap- 
proach of danger, his friends urged him to leave, but he 
said, "I have been appointed to this' station and I shall 
not desert my post." He even sent a message to the 
magistrate saying that if the Christians were in fault, 



246 MODERN BAPTIST. 

he was responsible and asking that if it was necessary 
he should be punished and that the others might go un- 
molested. The storm broke over the little company 
in the chapel just at the close of service. A few of them 
escaped in the confusion. Others were captured and 
killed on the spot. The Boxers dragged the evangelist 
into the main street and beat him until he lay uncon- 
scious. When he regained consciousness, he arose 
to his knees, when a voice cried out, "See, he is praying 
even now. Drag him to the fire." He stretched out 
his hands towards the burning chapel and said, "You 
need not drag me. I will go." Quietly, he walked into 
the burning building and its blazing ruins fell about his 
devoted head. 

Another Christian, by the name of Kao, was hunted 
out and his house set on fire. While it was burning, 
he was taken to the city for trial. "Why did you join 
the church," asked the Boxer chief. He replied, "Because 
it is good." "Why, then do you injure people?" He 
said, "We do not harm any one." "Well," said the 
chief, "if you will leave this foreign sect and worship 
Buddha, we will let you go." But with marvelous cour- 
age he refused to deny his Lord and while the ruins 
of the little chapel were still smouldering, he was thrown 
into the fire and soon his wife's ashes lay with his. Three 
other members of his family were numbered with the 
martyrs. 

Time fails to tell the story. of the record of all these 
brave Christians connected with our English Baptist Mis- 



HEROES AND MARTYRS 247 

sion in Shansi. One more striking example must suf- 
fice. 

A man by the name of Wang, who had been a reck- 
less, wicked man, a gambler and opium smoker, had 
been converted and was well known for the remarkable 
change which had taken place in his life. He went out 
as a colporter to sell books and in all the region 1 he 
was known as a Christian. The Boxers seized him 
and, ble"eding from many sword cuts, he was carried 
for ,a so-called trial to the military "yamen," or court. 

A man in the crowd said, "We know that you were 
formerly a bad character, but that you have reformed. 
Only leave the foreign sect and you will not be killed/ ' 
Other voices joined in urging him to escape death by 
leaving the "foreign sect." He said, "I have already 
left the foreign sect (meaning by that Buddhism) and 
now follow the Heavenly doctrine and worship the 
Supreme Ruler and believe in Jesus Christ." With 
many words, he witnessed to the one true God before 
the crowd. At last, the Boxer leader cried out impa- 
tiently, "He will not leave the religion of the for- 
eigners. Let him be killed." Outside the west gate of 
the city, with barbarous cruelty, he was put to death, 
bearing witness to the last to the Savior's power to re- 
deem ruined lives. 

THE BOXERS AND OUR OWN WORK 

The part of our work which was most affected by 
the Boxer uprising was our North China Mission in 



248 MODERN BAPTIST 

Shantung Province. In this province, no foreign mis- 
sionaries were slain and only a few native Christians 
suffered martyrdom. This was due mainly to two 
causes — the notorious Yu Hsien had been removed to 
Shansi Province and in his place Yuan Shi Kai had 
been appointed governor. The latter, one of the most 
remarkable of the Chinese viceroys, has been the leader 
of the modern educational and other reform movements 
and was a disciple of the famous Li Hung Chang. He 
stopped the 'dreadful work of destruction which had al- 
ready been started by his predecessor and with marvel- 
ous courage, ch'anged the imperial edict which read, 
"Kill the Foreigners" to read "Protect the Foreigners" 
and had it posted throughout the province. It is impos- 
ible to estimate the number of lives that were thus sav- 
ed by his courage. 

'Then, -too, our United States consul at Chefoo, Hon. 
John Fowler, was a faithful and watchful friend to the 
missionaries. He advisepl all of them on the approach of 
danger to take refuge in the port cities, where they 
would be under the protection of the foreign war vessels. 
At his own personal risk, he chartered two steamers at 
the rate of one hundred and fifty dollars per day each 
to go up the coast from Chefoo to bring down the mis- 
sionaries to that city. Dr. Hartwell bears personal tes- 
timony to the readiness which the consul, Mr. Fowler, 
ever manifested to do what he could in behalf of both 
missionaries and native Christians. It is worthy of men- 
tion also, that Mr. J. F. Seaman, of Shanghai, whose 



HEROES AND MARTYRS 249 

wife is the daughter of Mrs. Matthew T. Yates, placed 
his bungalow in Chefoo at the dirposal of the consul for 
the use of the missionary refugees, the only condition 
being that a place should be reserved for our Southern 
Baptist missionaries. 

Another bright page in the history of those dark 
days is the record of the generosity of some of our 
Chinese Baptist churches in California. Let us hear 
the story in the words of the veteran missionary, Dr. J. 
B. Hartwell. 

"Soon after the news of the persecutions of Christiana 
in Shantung reached America, our dear Chinese brethren 
in San Francisco and Oakland among whom it had been 
my privilege to preach the Cospel for many years, 
promptly and unsolicited, collected and sent to me for 
the relief of persecuted Baptists in this province one hun- 
dred Mexican dollars. Later they sent me two hundred 
and thirty-eight dollars and fifty cents for the same pur- 
pose. This seemed to me one of the most beautiful fruits 
of our blessed religion; that these few converts from 
heathenism, as soon as they heard of the persecutions of 
their brethren, not one of whom they had ever seen or ex- 
pected to see in this life, without solicitation from any 
living man, but, 'as moved by the spirit of Christian love, 
collected together promptly and sent forward between 
three and four hundred dollars 'for their temporal 

relief." 

One of the most beautiful stories of Christian 
jheroism connected with those dark days is told x>f 



250 MODERN BAPTIST' 

Mrs. Wong Gi Pin. She was a widow of a noble Chinese 
brother whose liberality had started and maintained a 
school at Tengchow. Mr. Wong was cared for when 
a poor child by one of the lady missionaries, who had 
been compelled for some reason to return to this country. 
While he lived, knowing of the needy condition of his 
benefactress, he repeatedly sent her most liberal gifts 
of mioney and when about to die, one of the last charges 
he left with his wife was that she should take care of 
his benefactress. Only a short time before the Boxer 
outbreak, she had sent money to this lady in America. 
During the bombardment <of Tsientsin, where she re- 
sided, shells were bursting -all around her and a portion 
of one, breaking through her roof, whizzed by her head 
and struck the table beside which she was sitting. Of 
course, she had to flee. She had about two hundred 
dollars with which to pay her way and that of her 
household to Ohefoo. On her way to the steamer, she 
was robbed of her money and left without a penny 
with which to make her escape. Fortunately, the head 
of the English firm where her husband had been em- 
ployed for many years, was an excellent Christian man 
and gave her help in her extremity. He saw her safe 
on board of a vessel for Chefoo and furnished means 
for the transportation of herself and household. Her 
houses in Tsientsin were destroyed and all of the money 
which she had in the bank was lost. With a beautiful 
resignation, she endured her losses, thankful to God 
that the lives of her family had been preserved and that 



HEROES AND MARTRYS 251 

she was led to send the money to America when she 
did. She said, "If I had not done it then, I could 
not do it now." After the outbreak was over, she was 
able to recuperate to some extent her shattered fortune 
and continued her good work. 

While the native Christians suffered the severest 
persecution in some parts of the field, only a few of 
them were killed. They were bound, beaten, robbed and 
imprisoned. Many of them took refuge in the grain 
fields and others fled to the mountains to escape the 
cruel Boxers, but in the midst of it all, almost without 
Bxception, they- remained faithful. Many of them seemed 
to be inspired with the same heroic spirit as that which 
was manifested by Pastor Li, a man who is still doing 
such a wonderful work in the Pingtu Mission. He had 
yone with the missionaries to Tsingtau and was entirely 
safe, but he could not rest contented. He said, "I will 
return to my brethren. If they suffer, I will suffer too. 
If they die, I will die with them." He went back to 
bis field where he continued 'almost constantly to preach 
and baptize believers. 

We have on record the account of only two of our 
Baptists in Shantung, who suffered martyrdom. One of 
these was an evangelist by the name of Wu. At a 
time when all was quiet in Tengchow, one of the mis- 
sionaries, passing along the street, saw a strange man 
preaching to a crowd which had gathered around him. 
The missionary stopped and listened, was pleased at 
what the man said and inquired of him who he was 



252 MODERN BAPTIST 



and whence he had learned the doctrine of Christ. He 
answered that his name was Wu, that about four years 
before that time, he had been baptized by missionary 
Sears near Pingtu, and that of his own accord, he had 
started out with his Bible to preach, begging his way 
as he went. The missionary took him to the home of 
Dr. Hartwell and after carefully examining him, they 
became satisfied that his story was true. He could tell 
all about the missionaries and their work and told Dr. 
Iiartwell that he had been present at the Association the 
fall before when it met in Pingtu and had heard Dr. 
Hartwell preach. He remained in Dr. Hartwell's home for 
some days, hearing the truth as it was preached in the 
chapel and helping in the work. Then it was necessary 
for Dr. Hartwell to take refuge in 'Chefoo and he ad- 
vised the evangelist to escape. Dr. Hartwell supplied 
him with a little money and with some books and bade 
him good-bye, believing 'him to be an earnest Christian, 
who had been moved by the Spirit of God to go forth, 
preaching the Gospel to his own people. Before many 
days, a report came to the missionaries in Chefoo that 
three strangers had been taken up in a village between 
Tengchow and Chefoo, one of whom had Christian 
books and confessed himself to be a Christian, while the 
others said that they were not Christians, but were 
merely traveling with this Christian man. From all 
that the missionaries could learn, the evangelist was 
either buried alive, or cast, bound hand and foot, into 
the sea. Wu was never heard of again and the mission- 






HEROES AND MARTYRS. 253 

aries were sure that he was the man who had suffered 
martyrdom. 

More thrilling still is the story of the aged evangel- 
ist, Sun Hwe Teh. He was a native pastor in charge of 
the Shang Tswong church near Hwanghien. Notwith- 
standing the 'disturbed conditions of the country, he 
went regularly from his home some distance away to 
preach at the church. On his last visit to the church, 
he stopped at the home of a young brother by the name 
of Lin. This young brother, while he had only been 
baptized a year previously, had passed through severe 
persecution. While he was absent attending church, 
a band of Boxers came to his village and frightened his 
wife and mother so that they fled to another 
village under the cover of night, one of them being 
badly hurt in their flight. On his return, he could find 
no trace of them and the villagers surrounded and 
threatened him. An armed man watched at his back 
gate by night to prevent his escape, while others howled 
around the place. He saw them breaking down his gate 
and chopping it to pieces. He finally managed to es- 
cape and ran for miles, praying all the time, and thus 
saved himself. When quiet was restored in the village, 
he and his family were at home once more and evan- 
gelist Sun spent several nights with them. As he was 
going on, he tried to persuade Mr. Lin to go with him, 
but his wife begged him to remain at home to take care 
of the family. "Fortunately," he says, "I listened to 



254 MODERN BAPTIST 

my wife's words and so escaped a fate like that of Sun 
Hwe Teh." 

The old evangelist went on to his appointment at 
Shang Tswong and returning, spent the night at an 
inn. While it was not necessary for him to make known 
that he was a 'Christian, he did not hesitate to tell the 
people that he was an evangelist. Next morning, he 
started on his way, hut was followed by the innkeeper 
and the head of the clan and taken back. His traveling 
bag was searched. Sun was a sort of a doctor. He had 
learned something of simple remedies from the mission- 
aries and carried medicines with him to relieve the suf- 
ferings of his people. 

It is necessary to say that bands of men employed 
by the Boxers had been going through the country, 
smearing blood upon the doors of certain people and 
the superstition prevailed that people whose doors were 
smeared with blood, unless they would take an antidote 
prescribed by the Boxers, would go crazy and kill them- 
selves within seven days. These same men had also been 
hired to put poison into the wells of the people and both 
of these things had been laid to the charge of the Christ- 
ians in order that the Boxers might have some pretext 
for persecuting and killing them. 

They found in the bag of the old evangelist a little 
santonine, which is a very popular medicine among 
the Chinese. They found also several kinds of little 
pills. They charged that the santonine was for poison- 
ing the wells and that the little pills were blood for 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 255 

smearing on doors. The old man's hands were tied 
behind him and he was hung up by his hands thus bent 
back of him and a heavy stone was tied to his feet to in- 
crease his torture. They hoped in this way to force 
him to recant. During the day, he was let down and 
at night he was hung up again. He was kept in this 
torture for three days. Then he begged to be allowed to 
hire some men to go to his home which was about twenty 
miles away and to bring someone to identify him and 
give security for his character. When the men from 
his village arrived, he was allowed to go free, but he was 
in such a condition that he could not walk and had to 
be carried to his home in a shentze. When he reached 
home, his friends found that the wounds on his wrists 
from the cutting of the ropes and the burns which had 
been inflicted on his hand® had become infected and 
blood poisoning had set in. Dr. Hartwell, hearing of his 
condition from a grandson, who had been sent to Chefoo 
with the news, had the old man brought to the mission 
hospital in Chefoo. where everything that medical skill 
could accomplish was done for him. They feared that 
he would lose his hands and his body was covered with 
bruises from kicks which he had received. The old 
man suffered patiently, but did not seem to improve. 
Many of the missionaries visited him, talked with him 
to try to bring him some comfort and prayed with him. 
His strength gradually gave way and on the morning 
of the first of August, at four o'clock, the old man's 
grandson came to Dr. Hartwell's window to tell him that 



256 MODERN BAPTIST 

his grandfather had just passed peacefully away. Thus, 
the aged evangelist joined that noble company of mar- 
tyrs who have witnessed for the Master throughout the 
ages. 

When at last the awful persecution had been brought 
to an end and the missionaries were permitted to return 
to their fields, many were the pathetic meetings between 
them and the native brethren to whom they were devot- 
ing their lives. At the first service in Tengchow, the 
son of the old evangelist was present and though his 
father had been martyred and his family had suffered 
greatly, he could join in praise to God for His goodness. 
In recounting the trials through which they had passed, 
one of the native Christians was heard to say, "Yfhat- 
ever happens, Christ will be King in China." 

Thus, our Baptist brethren in that far off land sealed 
their faith with their blood. The mouths of those who 
had called them "Rice Christians" were forever shut, and 
among their own people their heroism and willingness 
to die for the faith has had a wonderful effect and now 
thousands of them are turning to the Savior and joining 
the ranks of those whom they formerly persecuted. 
William H. Smith, D.D., 

Richmond, Va. 



JOHN CLIFFORD, 

HERO OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 

For the twenty-ninth time John Clifford has gone 
before the magistrate to make protest against paying the 
tax under the famous (and infamous) Education Act of 
1902 whereby Nonconformists are compelled to support 
priestly and popish teaching in the schools of England. 
It is an outrageous situation. Real Protestants in Eng- 
land object to the teaching and cannot endure to have 
to pay to have their children taught what they spurn 
as heresy. It is intolerable to every lover of liberty in 
the world. Mr. A. J. Balfour, when premier of Great 
Britain, put through Parliament this iniquitous act 
with the great majority secured by the Conservative 
party during the Boer War. The nation had no chance 
to express itself on the question till the wrong was done. 
Mr. Balfour ridiculed the Nonconformists and jeered at 
their helplessness. To keep still would be to see the 
children of England taught popish practices. In the 
end it would mean the death of real freedom and the 
triumph of ecclesiasticism. There were many voices 
raised in protest. Men were not slow to see how much 
was at stake. But it was Dr. John Clifford, pastor of 



258 ' MODERN BAPTIST 

the Westbourne Park Chapel, London, who gave ex- 
pression to the deepest feelings of the people on this 
subject. He had been getting ready for this crisis all 
his life and soon his voice rang out with tremendous 
power all over England. He organized the "Passive 
Resistance Movement" along with Sir George White and 
others, which gave tangible shape to the protest of the 
people. Men and ministers went to jail rather than 
pay the stipend for ecclesiastical tyranny. Others suf- 
fered distraint of their goods which were seized by the 
sheriff to pay the unjust tax. There were those in 
plenty who wished peace at any price and favored ac- 
quiescence. Others grew weary in the struggle, which 
lingered on, but John Clifford made his voice heard 
as he led the clans and called for volunteers in this he- 
roic battle with ecclesiasticism entrenched in centuries 
of pride and power. It was a strange and a majestic 
sight in the opening years of the twentieth century to 
see the forces of progress in a death-grapple with the 
legions of reaction in England, the leader of the na- 
tions of earth. One had to rub his eyes to see if he 
were not in the days of Hampden and of Cromwell. 

Finally the cloud burst on the heads of the Tories 
and Campbell-Bannerman camfe into power in the early 
days of 1906 with a flood. The Liberals had never had 
such a majority. It was the answer of the people to 
Balfour's Education Act. Passive Resistance had done 
its work. The masses had a chance to vent their wrath 
at the spectacle of ministers of Christ in jail in Eng- 




JOHN CLIFFORD. 



(259) 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 261 

land in the twentieth century because they would not 
pay for ecclesiastical tyranny. The conscience of Eng- 
land had responded to the Baptist conscience as it was 
personified in John Clifford. At heart the English peo- 
ple are sound and liberty-loving. Many of the battles 
for human progress have been fought on English soil. 
This was a belated one, an anachronism in reality due 
to the English love of conservatism. Hopes! ran high 
on this great victory and Dr. Clifford was the hero of 
the triumph. It was recognized on all sides that he 
had made this victory possible. When the Baptist 
World Alliance was formed in July, 1905, in London, 
it was the delight of that great body to elect Dr. Clifford 
as its president. His every appearance was the signal 
for unbounded enthusiasm. Here was a man who was 
battling against immeasurable difficulties. The task 
seemed hopeless, but Dr. Clifford was dauntless. His 
courage was contagious. So he battled on and others 
followed. Once again the high hopes of the Liberals 
were doomed to disappointment. The Liberals came into 
power pledged to a reform of the Education Act. Un- 
fortunately there were diversities of sentiment among 
them as to the precise nature of the reform. But, 
finally, a new act, Which removed the chief iniquities 
of the Balfour act, passed the House of Commons by a 
good majority. The problem had been how to recon- 
cile those who wished no religious teaching at all in the 
schools and those who wished the simple Scripture facts 
and fundamental principles given. It was a knotty 



262 MODERN BAPTIST 

question, but the solution was not hopeless. The House 
of Lords, however, relieved the Liberals of their troubles 
by throwing out the bill. The appeal to the country 
brought the Liberals back, but the result was the same. 
A great constitutional problem: was at last raised by the 
Budget of David Lloyd-George (another great Baptist 
champion of liberty, now chancellor of the exchequer) 
in 1909. This titanic struggle closed after another tri- 
umphant appeal to the country, with the loss of the 
veto power by the House of Lords. It is impossible to 
over-estimate the significance of this revolution in the 
British Parliament. Now at last the British democracy 
can give expression to its will when it clashes with the 
ecclesiastical aristocracy. It is now conceded on all 
sides that home rule for Ireland, Welsh disestablish- 
ment, repeal of the Education Act are sure to com© to 
pass: in the life of this Parliament. 

In no little measure this magnificent consummation 
will be due to two great Baptist statesmen, John Clifford 
and David Lloyd-George. I call Dr. Clifford a states- 
man. He is one of the greatest living statesmen in his 
grasp of the fundamental questions of religious liberty. 
He is a statesman as John the Baptist was when he cried 
out against the narrow ecclesiastical assumptions of tha 
Pharisees and Saddueees who prided themselves on 
having Abraham as their father. He is a statesman as 
Paul was when he stood for the freedom of the Gentik 
Christians from the weak and beggarly elements of the 
ceremonial law and would not yield, no, not for an 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 263 

hour, to allow Titus to be circumcised. He is a states- 
man in his powerful grasp of the principles at stake and 
in his ability to project his conception upon the public 
mind. I heard him speak on John Bunyan on Elstow 
Green at Bedford, in July, 1905, and it was a mem- 
orable occasion. One felt that here was a man who 
would gladly go to jail rather than surrender one iota 
of what he held dearer than life. Dr. Clifford gripped 
the conscience and fired the imagination of Britain's 
freemen as few men of this generation have done. Some 
of the delegates to that first Alliance spoke one evening 
in Westbourne Park Chapel and it was one of the proud- 
est occasions of our lives to stand on the platform from 
which John Clifford had sent forth his clarion calls to 
battle. 

Let us hope that our hero will live to see the repeal 
of the Education Act. That will be his crown, when 
it comes, whether he lives to see it or not. His heart is 
still strong at seventy-five. His voice rang forth with 
tremendous force in Philadelphia in June, 1911, in his 
great presidential address before the Baptist World Al- 
liance. The audience gave him the ovation of his life- 
time. In this address at Philadelphia Dr. Clifford 
spoke of having just received a summons from the sher- 
iff for payment of the rate under the Education Act. 
He was in a land where such things are not done, but 
Dr. Clifford said with spirit that they could sell his 
goods or send him to jail, but he would not pay the 
rate. It is well to give a sample of this wonderful apol- 



264 MODERN BAPTIST 

ogetic by Dr. Clifford at Philadelphia as showing the 
temper of the man : 

"But this organisation is a World Alliance of Bap- 
tists, and that means that the catholic principles on 
which we base ourselves we derive straight from Jesus, 
are accepted on His authority, and involve in all who 
accept them total subjection of soul to His gracious and 
benignant rule. He is Lord of all, and He only is 
Lord of all. Our conception of Christ's authority is ex- 
clusive. We refuse to everybody and everything the 
slightest share in it. It is absolute, unlimited, indefea- 
sible, admits of no question, and allows no rival. The 
right to rule in the religious life is in Him and in no 
other, be he as saintly as St. Francis, as devout as St. 
Bernard, as loving as John, or as practical as Paul ; not 
in any offices, papal, episcopal or ministerial, not in tra- 
dition, though it may interpret the goings of the Spirit 
of God and illustrate the effects of obedience and dis- 
obedience ; not in the Old Testament not yet in the New, 
though their working values are great, since they enable 
us to know His mind, understand His laws *of conduct, 
and partake more freely of His Spirit; not in the long 
annals of the life of the church or the agreement of 
"the whole church" at one special moment; yet we wel- 
come the illumination church history affords of His ad- 
ministration of the social life of His people, of its aim 
and spirit, of its difficulties and hindrances, and of the 
sufficiency of His grace. Jesus Christ holds with us the 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 265 

first place and the last. His word is final. His rule i3 
supreme. 

"In short, the deepest impulse of Baptist life has 
been the upholding _of the sole and exclusive authority 
of Christ Jesus against all possible encroachment from 
churches, from sections of churches, from the whole 
church at any special moment of its life and action, as 
in a council, from the traditions of the elders, from the 
exegesis of scholars, and from, the interesting but need- 
less theories of philosophers. It is the momentum of 
that one cardinal idea which has swept us along to our 
present position. 

"And now it follows upon that, that the ideas to 
which we give witness root themselves, first in the teach- 
ing of the New Testament, and secondly in the soul's 
experience of Christ." 

His spirit is unconquerable and his optimism is 
grounded in God. He flings the banner of religious 
liberty full before the breeze and proudly scorns tolera- 
tion as intolerance. 

Dr. Clifford has become the incarnate protest against 
ecclesiastical tyranny. He is hated and feared by all 
lovers of priest-craft. He has caught with all his: might 
the Baptist message and he sounds it out before all the 
world. He is born of the stuff of which martyrs are 
made. He is not a rich mian, but he keeps a hospitable 
home, as his friends know. But the sheriff may come 
>and keep on coming till he has robbed his home of all 
its treasures before this lion will cease his roaring. He 



266 MODERN BAPTIST 

will conquer or die in this war, for it is the fight for 
God and for man. The rights of the spirit of man have 
a magnificent exponent in John Clifford, the man who 
has done more than any one else to rescue modern 
England from the grip of Rome. Rome is still on the 
rates, but Rome will soon be off the rates and will stay 
off. 

A. T. Robertson, D.D., LL.D., 

Louisville, Ky. 



LAYING FOUNDATIONS IN MODERN MEXICO. 

John 0. "Westrup was the first missionary employed 
in Mexico by the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern 
Baptist Convention, and in 1880, a few months after 
he began his labors, he was murdered by fanatical Mex- 
icans and Indians near Progress*), Coahuila. 

Elder James Hiekey, a faithful Baptist minister, was 
the first person to preach the Gospel and establish 
churches on Mexican soil. As Carey was the Apostle of 
India, Judson of Burm'ah, Morrison of China, Schmidt 
of Africa, Hiekey was of Mexico. 

He was born in Ireland and was a staunch Romanist. 
He married a godly Baptist woman, and through her 
efforts he was converted and began to preach in lim- 
erick, Ireland. His wife died and he came to the United 
States and lived awhile in Missouri and then went to 
Texas. Rev. W. D. Johnson, who laid the foundation 
for Baptist work southwest of San Antonio, was con- 
verted by him. 

In 1861 he was forced to leave West Texas because 
of his abolition sentiments and take refuge in Mexico. 
He fled from one war to become an active participant in 
another war, between truth and error, which was far 
more important. 



268 MODERN BAPTIST 

He began his labors in Matamoros. The first Bibles 
be attempted to carry into Mexico were burned in the 
Custom House in his presence. I knew well the man 
who burned them. He was my neighbor in Saltillo. 
Elder Hickey was told that "Mexico will not have this 
damnable book on her soil." The first Bibles he used 
were carried to him by the smugglers. Bibles now go 
to Mexico by the car load. 

In 1862 he was invited by the Westrups, an honor- 
able English family living in Monterrey, to visit that 
city. He began to preach and the Romanists kindled 
the fires of persecution. They could not hold two ser- 
vices consecutively in the same house for fear of being 
murdered by the infuriated mobs, who rode through 
the streets with lariats in their hands to hang them. 
The Westrups and Urangas were converted and on .Tan- 
nary 30th, 1864, the First Baptist church of Monterrey 
was organized. This was the first evangelical church 
established in our sister republic. 

T. M. and John 0. Westrup were ordained as min- 
isters by Brother Hickey. He established churches in 
Oadareita, Montemorelos, Santa Rosa and other points. 
A group of fanatics in Cadareita determined to waylay 
and murder him as he returned to Monterrey. The 
Irish are not accustomed to travel on horseback and 
so he lost his way and did not pass his assassins. Not 
to be outdone they went on to Monterrey, found where 
he would preach that night and secreted themselves 
nearby, resolved to stab him to death. But the leader 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 269 

was deeply convicted under the sermon and went weep- 
ing to confess his intentions to Brother Hickey. The 
little congregation prayed with him and he was happily 
converted and for more than forty years he was an 
honored deacon, in whose home I have spent many a 
happy hour. 

Brother Hickey was pious, incessant in labors and 
endured hardness as a good soldier. He died December 
6, 1866 in Matamoros and his body sleeps in Browns- 
ville, Texas. 

The Westrups caught the zeal 'and abnegation of 
their leader and carried forward the work amidst fiery 
trials and unrelenting persecutions. No one would give 
employment to a Baptist. Families were rent asunder. 
One's enemies were those of his own house. 

In 1860 we heard in Texas of the open door in 
Mexico. Through the labors of Jaurez, Porfirio Diaz, 
Bernardo Reyes, Madero and others, the power of 
Romanism had been overthrown. Church and state were 
separated, the convents had been closed as "dens of in- 
iquity" and tihe inmates banished as "pernicious char- 
acters." Texas Baptists agreed to be responsible for the 
salary of John 0. Westrap, if the Foreign Board would 
appoint him. He labored in Coahuila. He sent glorious 
reports of conversions, baptisms and the organization 
of churches at Musquiz, Progresso and other point.s — 
then there was an ominous silence. There were no 
railroads nor even telegraph lines at that time from 
Texas to Mexico. The border on either side of the 



270 MODERN BAPTIST 

Kio Grande was infested with robbers, cut-throat Amer- 
icans and Mexicans and wild Indians. 

Word came to us in December that John 0. West- 
nip had been murdered. At the suggestion of brethren 
in Texas I hired two men and went to ascertain the 
true facts, and my father took his trusty rifle and went 
with us. It was a long, tedious, dangerous trip after 
we passed beyond the suburbs of San Antonio. One 
of us had always to be on guard at night while the 
other three slept. There were but few houses from 
San Antonio to Ladero, an insignificant town without 
any railway connection. 

We had several stirring adventures in Mexico. Sev- 
eral ndghts we did not sleep because we could see men 
prowling around our camp. One night four Americans 
camped in sight of us and neglected to stand guard, and 
the next morning two were dead and another was dying. 
In Lampazos, Mexico, we found many of those baptized 
by Brother Westrup. Some of them saicl, "God has sent 
you in answer to our prayers for some one to take up 
Brother Westrup's work." I went to the scene of the 
murder, looked on Westrup's new grave and prayed the 
Lord to give us Mexico for Christ. I found that one 
Saturday Brother Westrup had been overtaken while 
partaking of his noon-day lunch on the road to Mosquiz 
near Progresso. He was killed and stripped of his 
clothing and his body was mutilated and pitched upon 
a "Spanish dagger" (A Yucca Palm tree) and left there. 
A Mexican brother who accompanied him was also 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 271 

killed. I found a piece of his day book, stained with 
his own blood, telling of at least seventy-live people 
who had been converted and baptized. I was profound- 
ly impressed with the zeal and Scripture knowledge of 
the young converts. Several -of them could quote chap- 
ter after chapter of the Old and New Testaments. Ail 
of them were witnesses for Christ. 

I visited Western's widow and his orphan children, 
who were afterwards taken to Buckner's Orphans 7 
Home in Texas and educated. 

The brother-in-law of Brother Westrup, Alejandro 
Trevino is no doubt our leading Mexican minister to- 
day, and two of his nephews are useful ministers. 
Pdrfirio Rodriguez, co-laborer with our martyr, helped 
me establish the work in Saltillo. Alejandro Trevino 
worked for years with me. We made long journeys 
together across the mountains and deserts. Our lives 
were often threatened. I saw plainly what our martyr 
and those wdio had gone before me endured for the 
Gospel. 

One of the happiest, days of my life was when I 
baptized fifty-seven people in San Rafael river one Sun- 
day, and Brother Trevino and I organized a Baptist 
church, of which he became the honored pastor. It was 
here that Mrs. Duggan laid the scene of that interesting 
book, "A Mexican Ranch. 77 

Leaving there accompanied by a few brethren I went 
to San Pablo to preach. After a sermon in n private 
house I knelt to pray and a bandit slipped up to stab 



272 MODERN BAPTIST 

me when deacon Chavez providentially looked up and 
thrust out his arm and saved my life. The next day 
we were waylaid as we went to Cienega del Toro, but 
the Lord delivered us. 

A man came to the house where I was stopping ri 
Cienega, pistol in hand, to kill me hut T took a Catholic 
New Testament and showed him that we were ri^ht, 
and he was ever after a true friend. 

At Rayones, as I was about to baptize a young man, 
his brother rushed up saying that if the brother wa« 
baptized, he would kill us both. I asked the candidate 
what he wanted to do. He replied that he wanted to 
obey Christ. I started down into the water and the 
infuriated brother started to make good his threat, when 
others disarmed him. 

That night he came to the services to shoot me, 
but Brother Chavez stood before me to shield me while 
I preached. The Lord convicted him' of sin before we 
concluded the services and he hid his pistol, begged 
my forgiveness and offered himself for baptism. He 
died four weeks later, happy in the Savior's love. 

In a meeting held in Montemorelos in recent years, 
by the brother-in-law of our martyr, a man who years 
before had been a noted bandit, came before the church 
with his entire family asking to be received as candidates 
for baptism. He related a remarkable experience. He 
said, "'Twenty years or more ago I was in Rayones and 
there was a Baptist minister there named Powell. He 
was to leave the next morning for Galeana. He had 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 273 

baptized a number of people through all that region 
and was organizing churches and I determined to fol- 
low him and kill him. When I overtook him he and 
his companion Charez began to talk to me about my 
soul, gave me a New Testament and made me promise 
to come and hear him preach that night. I did so and 
was deeply stirred about my soul. I came home, read 
the New Testament and have read it in my family and 
prayed regularly to God for years and have realized 
the forgiveness of my sins; but I had lived such an 
outrageous life that I have never had the courage, until 
now, to come and tell you what the Lord has done for 
my soul, 'and to ask you to receive me and my family 
on our experience of grace as candidates for baptism. 77 
When this was told me by Brother Trevino, T remem- 
bered well the occasion and the earnest talk we had 
on the natural bridge where he had intended to murder 
us. If I had not witnessed for Christ I would certainly 
have been killed. Twenty-eight people were murdered 
along that route that year. 

In 1882, soon after establishing my residence at 
Saltillo, I saw the need for a female school, and in- 
terested Governor Madero, grandfather of the revolution- 
ist who has recently overthrown the power of President 
Diaz. The school bears the name of Madero In- 
stitute. The interest of Governor Madero in this work, 
and the help he extended toward it very much infuriated 
the Catholics. On one Sabbath afternoon I heard hun- 
dreds of them coming down the street, crying death to me 



274 MODERN BAPTIST 

and Governor Madero. But for the timely arrival of 
Dr. R. II. L. Bibb, who stationed himself at my door, 
my entire family would no doubt have been extermi- 
nated. .When we started to erect a meeting house in 
Saltillo, the priests and fanatics declared it should 
never be built. They went to the governor and 
tried to persuade him to hinder us. He said to the 
two priests, "If a hair of this man's head is hurt, I 
will hang you both." The governor compelled me to 
keep a telephone in my sleeping room for more than 
a year, saying that they were liable to try to murder 
me at any time and if I could hold them at bay until 
he could get to me that he would teach them a lesson 
in regard to religious liberty. 

While preaching in the new church at Saltillo one 
night I saw three young men who had evidently heard 
for the first time the story of Christ's dying love. I 
hurried down and greeted them and they told me that 
in their country the priests forbade their reading the 
Bible, saying that it was the meanest book on earth. 
They said they thought that what they had heard that 
night was the best reading they had ever heard and that 
they had never heard such good things as God's love for 
sinful men, and that the song "Jesus Saves" was so 
sweet that they did wish their mother and father could 
hear it. It was arranged that I should go in a few weeks 
to their home. In doing so I had to swim my bronco 
through a swollen stream and I reached there in wet 
clothes. The house, like nearly all Mexican houses, was 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 275 

built of adobe (sun dried brick), with a flat roof and 
an open court like the one where Peter stood when he 
denied his Lord. The rooms had large door shutters, 
but no windows. I was taken into a room where there 
was a bed and table and two chairs. The father and 
mother and Manuel, who had accompanied me, assem- 
bled in the patio or open court and engaged in an earn- 
est conversation. Sixty people were murdered while the 
Gospel was being established in Mexico and some were 
killed not very far from this ranch. From the earnest 
manner of their conversation, I felt assured that the 
people had threatened that if I preached they 
would kill me and kill the family and end the whole 
business, and 'after all I was to be defeated in my mis- 
sion. I never prayed more earnestly for divine help. 
Finally the old mother came into the room with some 
clothes on her arm, saying, "Senor, you must remove 
the wet clothes or you will die of pneumonia." 

"The people are already beginning to assemble in 
the sala, and I believe that everyone in this community 
is coming to hear you preach." By this time she was 
near the door. Just as she was about ready to close 
it she said, "Senor, I am mortified about these clothes. 
I think they will be all right as far as they go, but, oh ! 
I am so afraid they will not go far enough." With 
this she closed the door and departed. Mexicans are 
small of stature and they could find no clothing large 
enough. T had soon removed my clothing and put 
on the under garments and began the task of adjusting 



276 MODERN BAPTIST 

the outer ones. The pants were yellow and made to 
fit skin tight. With the greatest difficulty, I forced them 
on and with still greater difficulty was I able to fasten 
them. Then I put on the green and white striped 
vest, and when I had buttoned it up I found that there 
was about twenty minutes' recess between the bottom 
of the vest and the top of the pantaloons, which was 
like church members who had fallen out, and I could 
not get them to meet. I put on the white blouse, the 
sleeves of which came just below my elbow and the 
tail of it came nearly to the waist band of my panta- 
loons. Then I sat down, very cautiously, to put on 
my shoes and hose, when I discovered that country 
folks in that region do not use hose. The shoes were 
yellow gaiters with heels fully six inches high and 
with points after the pattern of a tooth pick. They 
were entirely too small, but after an earnest effort I 
succeeded in getting them on and to my horror dis- 
covered about eight inches of white uncovered space 
between the pantaloons and shoes. I am sure that I 
looked more like a clown than a preacher. 

I hurried across to where the people were assembled. 
Mexicans, as a race, are very polite, but my ridiculous 
garb was more than they could stand. They broke out 
into laughter and the longer I stood there the worse 
the situation grew. The old folks rushed out and 
brought in the dining room table, placing it in front 
of me and Manuel covered it over with a bed 
blanket, which he draped over the side. They wished 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 277 

to hide all of me that was possible. One would 
have thought this ridiculous garb would have de- 
stroyed all seriousness for the evening. The room 
was filled to suffocation. I read the Scripture, prayed 
and Sang the song "Jesus Saves." I took as my text, 
John 3:16, and I had what the old fathers called lib- 
erty. In a few moments I had forgotten all about the 
clothing as did the people also. Conviction of sin came 
to their hearts. While I was yet preaching, the old 
father stood up and said, "Lo veo, lo veo, lo veo," "I 
see it, I see it, I see it," and then and there publicly 
confessed Christ. Before we closed the services, twenty- 
three people had confessed a hope in Christ. Two of 
those boys are today leading Baptist ministers and have 
been eminently successful as soul winners. 

Today in Mexico, our martyr rests from his labors, 
but the principles for which he wrought and died have 
permeated every corner of the Aztec land, both in 
the Jacal of the peon regions, and as well in the palace 
of recent governors and of the president to be. Priest- 
craft, superstition and paganism are gradually yield- 
ing before the presence and power of New Testament 
truth. The morning dawns, the darkness disappears. 

W. D. Powell, D.D., 

Louisville, Ky. 




PABLO BESSON. 



(278; 



PABLO BESSON: APOSTLE OF ARGENTINA. 

Attendants of the Baptist World Alliance in Phila- 
delphia will recall the banner-like placards, which 
marked the places assigned in the great auditorium to 
the groups of messengers from various foreign countries. 
Among these up-lifted national banners appeared one 
bearing the name "Argentina," beneath which sat the 
lone representative from* that far away southern land. 
Having seen him once, one could not afterward fail to 
pick him out from the vast throng. Among that great 
gathering of Baptist peers from all parts of the world 
was no more interesting character than Rev. Paul Besson, 
or Don Pablo (as he is familiarly and affectionately 
called by his own people) , the Baptist pioneer and hero 
of Argentina. His massive, bald head, roofed around 
the edges with silky iron-gray hair, his heavy brows, 
his deep-set, piercing eyes, his kindly but stern be- 
whiskered face, marked him out as a man of deep 
thought, rich experience, and high purpose. He is a 
Baptist who has followed unflinchingly the logic of the 
Baptist position, having spoken of himself as, ,"This 
contradictor accustomed to obey the word of God." 

By birth he is Swiss. Descended from an old burgess 
family of Neuchatel, he was born on the 4th of April, 



280 MODERN BAPTIST 

1848, in the village of Nods, where his father labored 
as evangelical pastor for twenty-five years. His mother, 
Elisa Revel, came of "Waldensian stock. In writing of 
his mother, Don Pablo says, "To her inheritance of live- 
liness, of pedagogic talent, and of the way to gesticulate, 
the son is debtor. " To those who ever heard him 
preach, or engaged with him in spirited conversation, 
or saw his enthusiastic hand-clapping in approval of some 
choice utterance at the World Alliance this reference 
to his inheritance of "gesticulation" comes with strik- 
ing force and significance. 

As a university student for the Presbyterian ministry 
he had a distinguished career, having studied in the Lat- 
in College of Neuchatel, at Stuttgart, in the University of 
Basel, and the University of Leipsig. Among his instruct- 
ors may be mentioned the great Hebrew scholar, Bovet, 
the famous philosopher, Secretan, and Dr. Frederic 
Godet, whose commentary on the Gospel of John is an 
acknowledged masterpiece of exegesis. This last named 
illustrious professor has exerted a great influence over 
his methods of thought and interpretation. As a young 
Presbyterian minister he took an active part in the fight 
for the disestablishment of the church in Switzerland. 
He was one of the twenty-five pastors who, with Godet, 
separated from the State Church to found the Free 
Church of Neuchatel, but his fidelity to the New Testa- 
ment and to liberty of conscience carried him farther 
than his allies dared to go. 

After serving for some time as pastor in Switzer- 






HEROES AND MARTYRS. 281 

land, he went to France during the troublous times of the 
Franco-Prussian War, where he preached for several 
years. His spiritual zeal and evangelistic aggressiveness 
were more than some of his staid parishioners desired 
and involved him in various conflicts with the Church 
authorities, and brought him into trouble with the civil 
authorities likewise. On one occasion for publicly giving 
out religious tracts and preaching in public places he 
was confined for three days in a narrow dungeon with 
thieves and murderers, and condemned by the courts 
to pay one hundred francs and cost. This opposition 
only served to quicken his desire for full religious lib- 
erty and drove him closer to the teachings of the Word of 
God. 

In Lyons he met a Baptist missionary and soon came 
to realize that the Baptist position was the one toward 
which he had been struggling for several years, andl 
was baptized by Mr. I. B. Cretin, father-in-law of Mr. 
K. Saillens, present pastor of our Baptist Church of 
Paris. Of course his baptism cost bim his pastorate, his 
position, and most of his friends. His father disinherited 
him, and lonely and poor he had to start life afresh. His 
mother wrote him, "You will be a wanderer in the world 
without friends, and will be called a Baptist I" 

For six years in the midst of discouragement and 
hostilities he preached in France, part of the time as 
evangelist and part of the time as pastor. Some of the 
members of his little church emigrated to Argentina, 
and, finding themselves without a pastor in a hostile 



282 MODERN BAPTIST 

and uncongenial environment- they wrote back to Franc* 
pleading that a pastor be sent to them. No one was 
found to volunteer. Then Besson, with his character- 
istic keenness of intellect, argured to himself that it 
would be easier to find a successor for him in France 
than to secure a pastor to go to the little flock in Argen- 
tina. His decision was made and he went. He had no 
missionary societies at his back, no salary promised, and 
no private income. From far away Argentina he heard 
the cry, "Come over and help us," and he was not dis- 
obedient to the summons. Centuries ago another man 
who had fought his way through trial, sacrifice and 
persecution, to the Baptist position, had heard the cry, 
"Come over into Macedonia and help us," and forth- 
with he entered the Continent of Europe to plant the 
Baptist seed and unfurl the Baptist banner. Here now 
in these later times was another man named Paul who 
beard the far-off cry for help and came. Cod had opened 
a door in South America and Paul (Pablo) Besson came. 
Thus from continent to continent God and his heroes 
are marching on ! 

He traveled as a steerage passenger among the emi- 
grants. On arrival he put up at the Immigrant's Hotel, 
and until this day he delights to describe the shocked 
look of a prominent man in Montevideo, to whom he 
carried letters of introduction and who showed him great 
kindness, when in answer to his question at what hotel 
he was staying, Besson replied without a blush, "At the 
Immigrants' Hotel!" 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 283 

Arriving at Esperanza Santa Fe he soon became 
pastor of the faithful little flock. Then came years of 
struggle and hardship. His aged father having relented 
now gave him financial support. This enabled him to go 
forward with his work as missionary pastor. Soon he 
became the champion and protector of his little con- 
gregation. He counseled with them, encouraged them, 
and helped them in their business, often saving them 
from oppression. Above all he stood up for their relig- 
ious rights, taking it as his special mission to secure re- 
ligious liberty in the new country. 

Before many months this Baptist preacher and his 
church found themselves confronting a great difficulty, 
which also involved the government in a dilemma and 
the Roman Catholic priests in a fury. This difficulty 
arose out of conditions for which the Catholics were re- 
sponsible. In order to advance Romish interests in the 
land, a papal decree had gone forth that only Christian 
children could inherit the property of their parents. 
This meant that only those who could present a 
baptismal certificate, issued by the Catholic Church, had 
any legal rights. Later this law was modified to suit the 
Protestants whose baptismal certificates were eventually 
given legal recognition. This law proved equally satis- 
factory to Catholics and Protestants, or Pedo-Baptists ; 
but the coming of the Baptists (as is always the case) 
gave a new complexion to the situation, since for con- 
science' sake Baptists could issue no baptismal certificates 
to children, except to such as had voluntarily confessed 



284 MODERN BAPTIST 

their faith in Christ and had been baptized. Hence the 
children of Baptists who had not been baptized had no 
legal rights — the only proof of their birth being their 
existence. They were put into the same category as un- 
recognized, illegitimate children. The fires of religious 
Liberty in the soul of this man, who had set out to follow 
relentlessly the logic of Baptist principles, began to 
blaze, and Mr. Besson took up the matter vigorously. 
The columns of La Prensa, the greatest paper published 
in South America, were opened to him, and this Baptist 
preacher won a victory. 

His articles in La Prensa were widely read and com- 
mented upon as he made his strong pleas for the civil 
registry of births, in order to secure the rights of Bap- 
tists. He pressed his cause, even petitioning the national 
congress, and going before the Committee of Senators 
to present his case. Being unable to find another solu- 
tion of the problem, congress yielded to his request. Mr. 
Besson's place as a writer on subjects relating to religious 
and civic questions was now secure, so that the Argen- 
tine people began to find out something about the Bap» 
tists and what they stand for. The unyielding hero 
won his way against Jesuitical opposition and prejudice, 
and the civil registry was created because the Swiss Bap- 
tists with their leader forced the hands of the govern- 
ment. 

Our Baptist preacher's next contest was an effort to 
secure civil marriage. The only marriage considered as 
valid was that solemnized by the Roman Catholic 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 285 

Church. Although a concession had been granted with 
some reluctance to certain Protestant churches, these 
were looked upon as the official or state churches of 
Scotland, England, Germany and the United States, 
and on this ground the marriages celebrated were 
recognized as valid. This privilege, however, was lim- 
ited in that it was not granted to all non-Gatholics, nor, 
in fact, was it desired by all. Being a Baptist, and 
nothing but a Baptist, Mr. Besson could not for one 
moment think of attempting to pose as the representa- 
tive of any sort of state church. He and his people 
would recognize no ecclesiastical monopoly of the right 
to marry. They desired no special privileges, but they 
did demand equality and raised their plea for civil 
marriage. 

The issue was brought to a point in 1887 when a 
young Baptist couple, who were planning to be married, 
presented, at the suggestion of Pastor Besson, a petition 
to the minister of justice asking that he would authorize 
them to celebrate their marriage by the civil registrar. 
In their petition they said, " Although our pastor, the 
Rev. Paul Besson, is minister of our religion, this does 
not include the privilege of being an official of the civil 
state, and therefore he is not authorized to celebrate the 
contract nor to make out the act, a copy of which must 
be sent to the civil registry office. Thus we are deprived 
of that law." A gentleman high in official circles be- 
came interested in the matter, after he had been inter- 
viewed by Mr. Besson, and wrote: "The • constitution 



286 MODERN BAPTIST 

guarantees the fullest liberty of conscience to all men in 
the world who wish to live on Argentine soil. It does 
not oblige anyone to profess a positive religion, or to 
profess any. For that reason the law should have fore- 
seen the situation in which the settlers referred to are 
placed, and who find themselves unable to form a family, 
which is the first of all rights that the constitution ac- 
cords equally to all." In the meantime, the invincible 
Mr. Besson was writing for the columns of La Prensa. 
The betrothed couple had to wait awhile, but, after some 
long debates in congress, their petition was granted and 
civil marriage was declared a law. Thus at the pen-point 
in the hand of a Baptist preacher, sustained by the sturdy 
conviction of his Baptist people, another victory was won ; 
another privilege was wrested from the Church of Rome ; 
another act of justice was done to those in whom con- 
science was a living force. Baptist principles in action 
were working revolutions in Argentina. 

Still another achievement was that of opening the cem- 
eteries for burying of Protestants. For a time the road- 
way or back yard was the only burying ground for Bap- 
tists because permission. to bury their dead in the Roman 
Catholic cemeteries had been refused. Finally a municipal 
decree forbade the burying of the dead in the back yards 
or along the highway, so when death entered a Bap- 
tist home the bereaved family knew not what to do. 
The time had come for action. Pastor Besson cried out, 
"Your government will let us live in your country, but 
will not let us die here and be buried." He told the 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 287 

authorities that he would defy their decree, and a funer- 
al was held in a back yard. Pursued by the police officers, 
he succeeded in sending a telegram to the office of La 
Prensa and other papers in Buenos Aires informing 
them of the situation. Then he went to the office of the 
state governor where he was followed by the police who 
undertook to arrest him. "You would better leave him 
alone," said the governor. "This affair is going to 
raise a great disturbance;" and, turning to Mr. Besson, 
he said : "I will secure you a Protestant cemetery separate 
from the other." "I do not want a Protestant cemetery, 77 
answered the Baptist pastor. "It would only be called 
the 'cemetery of the accursed/ just as in other places. 
I demand equality. The burial of the dead should not 
be an ecclesiastical privilege ; it is a civil duty. Take the 
cemetery key from the Catholic priest and give it to the 
municipal authorities. Let me enter the cemetery on 
the same footing as the priests. Nothing less than this 
will satisfy me. I make the demand." The Romanists 
raised great opposition but before a great while the Bap- 
tist again had his way, but not until he had pressed 
the matter to the point of fighting it out in the congress. 
Today a Protestant has the same rights as the Roman 
Catholic, the law recognizing no difference. 

These are only some of the instances in which great 
reforms have been wrought in Argentina by the applica- 
tion of Baptist ideas. When the true history of the 
country shall have been written, it will be seen that the 
Baptists have led the vanguard of the struggle for re- 



288 MODERN BAPTIST 

ligious liberty. As Mr. David Lloyd-George said of Dr. 
John Clifford, the man who is making England over in 
his own image, "He has a conscience without a crack in 
it, and when anything hits it, it sounds clear." So Pablo 
Besson, the man with a whole conscience, is giving Ar- 
gentina a conscience, and in doing so is developing an 
atmosphere in which, through the years to come, Bap- 
tist principles will thrive and bear fruit. The Baptist 
conscience cannot make a compromise. It is invincible 
because God makes it keen. 

. During the early part of his long fight Mr. Besson 
stood alone. He was misunderstood by many of the 
other Protestants in the country who were ready to 
yield and make concessions, but he faithfully plowed 
his long, lonely furrow, heedless of criticism, and faith- 
fully he sowed the good seed which are today ripening 
into abundant harvest. 

From Santa Fe our hero moved to Buenos Aires, 
where he organized and built up a church, and largely 
at his own expense erected a neat house of worship, the 
first Baptist meeting-house in the republic. 

Having toiled on for nearly a quarter of a century, in 
1903, Mr. Besson welcomed the first missionaries sent to 
Argentina by the Foreign Mission Board of the South- 
ern Baptist Convention. In many ways he has given 
them aid and encouragement, and now that the weight 
of years rests heavily upon him, he delights to turn 
over his task to younger hands and hearts. Not one 
trace of jealousy does he show as he surrenders his work 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 289 

to the new workers. But instead of this he deeds to th® 
mission the house of worship which he erected, and in 
addition turns over to the Foreign Mission Board in 
Richmond, Va., large properties which he has accumu- 
lated through the years. 

Mr. Besson is a diligent Bible student. His Greek 
Testament is his constant companion; in fact, in his 
devotional reading he uses the Hebrew and the Greek. 
He is a prolific writer both in the religious and secular 
press in Switzerland, France and Spain, as well as Argen- 
tina. Few days pass that he has not an article in one of 
the leading daily papers of Buenos Aires. He is in close 
touch with many of the university students in the 
capital city of the republic, and deals with them faith- 
fully in the matter of their souls. He is on friendly 
terms with many prominent members of the national 
congress, and his articles and conversations have in- 
spired and strengthened not a few brilliant speeches in 
that body. He is severe in his purposefulness, at times 
really fierce in his denunciations of injustice and error, 
yet in the presence of sorrow, distress or suffering, his 
heart is as tender as that of a mother with her child. 
Many touching stories might be told of his work among 
the broken and oppressed in the poverty-stricken dis- 
tricts of the great city of Buenos Aires. Into the lazar- 
ettos, through the alleys and crowded streets he goes, 
3arrying comfort and help to the hopeless and despairing, 
giving of his means to relieve the suffering, and at the 
same time pointing them to the Savior of the lost. 



290 MODERN BAPTIST 

Though not markedly evangelistic in his preaching, he 
is always evangelical. As a stickler for justification by 
faith he might be Luther himself. 

A few years ago he married a noble Christian 
woman. Their happy and comfortable home in Buenos 
Aires is the refuge and resting place of missionaries and 
pastors. 

At the Baptist World Alliance in Philadelphia he 
represented the little, struggling, emergent Baptist bands 
of his adopted land. Cultured, genial, and marked 
with the tracings of many years of toil, he was a pictur- 
esque figure among that great gathering of thinkers, 
workers, and heroes. 

It was a delight to those who met him to do him 
honor. For many years he has stood for the truth 
and has not been ashamed nor afraid to declare his 
principles and deliver his message. Under God he has 
written a fresh chapter of Baptist history and demon- 
strated that the Baptist conscience, in asserting itself, 
not only wins its own right, but opens the way through 
which many others can enter into a larger liberty. 
S. J. Porter, D.D., 

San Antonio, Texas. 



JOSE BAREETTO, BRAZIL. 

It was a splendid reception committee which greeted 
Missionary Ginsbufg and myself when we alighted from 
our train at Santo Antonio in the interior of Brazil. 
There were, perhaps, a hundred people waiting for us 
and they gave us a mast hearty welcome. We greeted 
each other according to Brazilian fashion, which meant 
that we not only shook hands, but embraced. 

After we had finished the greetings, a great, strong 
man, more than six feet in height and weighing perhaps 
two hundred and fifty pounds, lined the party up two 
and two and marched us down through the city to the 
very excellent church building. His purpose evidently 
was to show us off and to make some impression upon 
the opposers Who had so often persecuted the little Bap- 
tist, group. Finally we reached the church which made a 
very picturesque appearance, covered over as it is with a 
coating of blue calcimine and the doors and windows 
draped in beautiful Brazilian lace curtains. It was 
rather a picturesque building for a church and yet it 
appeared to be in perfect keeping wi'th its surroundings. 

As we entered the church door, there stood grouped 
about it a number of young people with trays in their 
hands filled with rose petals and confetti, all of which 



292 MODERN BAPTIST 

they poured over us in great profusion. The floor of 
the building was also strewn with oleander and cinna- 
mon leaves. These floral demonstrations gave beautiful 
utterance to the joy with, which these dear friends 
greeted us. After we had prayed with the people, I 
learned that we were to go to the home of the good 
brother who had appeared as the leader of the group 
at the station. We marched out of the house and prac- 
tically the entire company of us trudged down through 
the middle of the street several squares to the home of 
Jose Barretto. 

Now this same Jose Barretto is a very remarkable 
character. Formerly he was the political boss of the 
community. The political boss is a man of unusual 
power in Brazil. We have no duplicate of him in the 
political life of our country. So great is his, influence 
with the authorities that he has practically the power of 
life and death over the entire population. Often he is 
a very desperate man and terrorizes the community in 
which he lives. Such a man was Jose Barretto. If there 
was any political trickery to be indulged in, it was Jose 
who was called on to undertake it. If it was found nec- 
essary to steal ballots to change any election, Jose would 
go to the polls, take, possession of the ballot box, extract 
from it the necessary number of votes to change the 
election, seal up the box and allow the count to be made. 
He said that he did not steal the votes. He just took 
them. No one dared resist him so violent was he in his 
methods. The numerous scars on his face bore eloquent 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 293 

testimony to the fact that he had been in many desper- 
ate encounters. 

He was just as violent in his opposition to Protestant- 
ism. He declared that if any Protestant should ever 
enter his home, he would beat him to death. Late one 
evening there came to his door his brother-in-law, wno 
was blind. After a while Jose and his wife were 
commiserating the brother over his blindness when the 
brother remarked quietly, "Well, I may not 'be ahlc to 
see the light of day, but in my heart I am able to see 
the face of Jesus Christ." The sister exclaimed, "Oh, 
you must be a Protestant !" The brother replied, "Yes, 
thank God, I do know Jesus Christ as my Savior." Im- 
mediately the sister fell upon the floor in a faint. She 
had visions of her great, strong husband pouncing upon 
her weak brother and possibly doing him bodily injury. 
The husband did his best to resuscitate her and comfort- 
ed her by saying, "I know I have said these harsh things 
about the Protestants;, but I would not strike your 
brother and I hope I aim not mean enough tio strike a 
blind man, anyway." 

After a while bedtime came on and the hrother re- 
quested the sister to read a passage of Scripture and 
allow him to lead in prayer. They did not own a Bible, so 
presently the sister found a book of Bible stones, from 
which she read a story and all knelt in prayer, -lose 
told me that the brother-in-law said the things his heart 
craved to have said so well and gave such voice to cries 
which sounded in his own soul, that when the 



294 MODERN BAPTIST 

brother came to the end, Jose said "amen," very earnest- 
ly. 

Pie becamie deeply interested in the Gospel and the 
brother instructed him as far as he could in the way of 
life. The brother went into Santo Antonio, which is a few 
miles away. Jose at the time was living in the country 
at the Manganese mines of which he was the superintend- 
ent. He told the president of the B. Y. P. U. in Santo 
Antonio of what had occurred in the home of Jose Bar- 
retto and encouraged him to go out and instruct Jose in 
the Gospel. The president declared he would gladly do 
so. He acknowledged that he had been afraid to ap- 
proach Jose on the subject of religion before this time, 
so violent was Jose in his opposition to the Gospel. The 
president hastened out into the coutry to meet the seeker 
after light. When he came into the office of the Manga- 
nese Mining Co., he found Jose seated at his desk poring 
over the pages of a book. It was a copy of the Holy 
Scriptures. 

He had come into possession of this Bible in the fol- 
lowing way: One day there entered his office one of his 
employees who had bought a Bible from a colportcr. 
Jose had taken it and looking through it and finding no 
saint's pictures in it concluded it must be that hated 
Protestant Bible, the circulation of which the priests 
were endeavoring so strenuously to prevent. He threw 
the book into a box in the corner of his office where since 
that day it had remained covered in the rubbish and 
dirt. 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 295 

But when the Spirit seized hold of Jose's heart, he 
had a great yearning to know what that book had to say. 
He fished it out of the box, brushed the dust reverently 
from its pages and when the president of the B. Y. P. 
U. arrived was earnestly seeking to find the message it 
had for his soul. It did not take the B. Y. P. U. presi- 
dent long to lead this earnest seeker into the light. He 
explained to him the Word of God, laid along side of 
it his own experience of Jesus Christ and soon Jose 
found peace in believing. 

He became a living, flaming fire for the Gospel in his 
community. All of the energy which he had thrown into 
his wicked ways in the days of his sinfulness, he now 
threw into his endeavor to serve the Lord. Wherever 
a house opened he entered to preach the Gospel. He bore 
testimony to the saving grace of Christ on the street. 
He carried his Bible with him constantly which he read 
and explained to others and has become a mighty soul 
winner in his community. 

The effect of his living upon the community has 
been tremendous. On the day we visited Santo Antonio, 
Ave received an invitation from twenty-three people out 
in the country some distance away, begging us to come 
that the witness Jose had borne for his Lord had led 

out and baptize them. They wanted, they said, to con- 
fess Christ and organize themselves into a church. They 
were the relatives of Jose Barretto and testified to the fact 
them to seek the same Savior. Thev wanted as their 



296 MODERN BAPTIST 

Savior the one who could produce such wonderful chang- 
es in the life of Jose Barretto. 

That night we had a great service in Hhe church. 
Jose was the chief usher. I have never seen a man who 
could crowd more people into a xoom than could he. 
No available space was left for Jose sandwiched the 
people into the room until we had hardly room to stand, 
and after this splendid piece of work was over we could 
see that practically as many people were on the outside. 
We preached the Gospel as simply as we knew how and 
after we had finished we asked if any persons wanted 
to make confession. (T say "we," because it required 
more than one of us, to enable me to preach. I spoke 
in English and Ginsburg interpreted what I had to say 
into Portuguese.) The people rose all over the house and 
then began a most remarkable examination. Many 
questions would be asked every candidate, searching mo- 
tives and seeking to find out whether the people under- 
stood what they were doing. When we had finished 
late in the night we had received for baptism between 
twenty and thirty people. I had noticed that when a 
man in a soldier's uniform had stood near the door to 
make confession, Jose Barretto became very much agitat- 
ed. I discovered that this man was Jose's confederate in 
all his former wickedness. He bore testimony that 
night that the change whieh had taken place in his old 
companion had forced him to realize that the Savior of 
Jose Barretto was able to save. even the worst, and so he 
had come to the feet of the same Lord. It was a won- 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 297 

derful sendee in every way. The power of the Gospel 
was mighty upon us and the testimony of this one man's 
life had in a large way, made it possible to accomplish 
what was accomplished that evening. 

While we were in Jose's home, we talked much with 
him concerning his experiences. He had been forced 
to suffer a great deal since he had accepted Christ. He 
had lost his position as superintendent of the mines 
because he had become a Protestant. At the present time 
he is making his living as a coffee merchant. In many 
ways the people seek to persecute him and. try his 
patience. 

He told us of an experience he had upon the day of 
our arrival in Santo Antonio. He had met an old school 
mate on the street that morning who had chided him 
for becoming a Protestant. He declared that Jose had 
shown great weakness and that he was ashamed of him. 
Jose replied; "You ought to be ashamed of yourself be- 
cause you know what kind of *a life I have lived in this 
community and how I have served the devil in the 
midst of this people. You know also that there has come 
into my life a great change. A religion that could pro- 
duce such a change as that deserves no ridicule and you 
ought to be glad to see the change that has come over 
me. You ought to encourage me rather than try to pro- 
voke me." The man slunk away, but in the meantime 
there had gathered about them a number of people. They 
saw that Jose was in earnest colloquy with another man 
and in former days such a thing would have been a 



298 



MODERN BAPTIST 



serious matter. They had crowded around him and em- 
boldened by the mildness of Jose's reply to his friend, 
the crowd began to ask questions. Finally one of them 
asked; "Suppose some one of us were to strike you in the 
face in persecution; you claim to be so mild now; what 
would you do?-' Jose replied, "Well, I do not expect 
such a thing as that to happen. I intend to live such a 
life in this community that no 'one shall ever wish to 
strike me or molest me in any way." 

And so it turns out that this man lays down before 
his community the challenge of his living. "See how I 
live," he says, "and then make your own conclusions 
about whether or not the faith which I profess in Christ 
is true." 

T. B. Ray, D. D., 
Richmond, Va. 



LOTT CAREY, A NEGRO HERO TO THE 
DARK CONTINENT. 

To 'attempt to recount all the great martyrs and 
heroes who have sacrificed their lives upon the altar for 
the cause of foreign missions is futile, for one would 
have to begin with the apostles of old and come through 
every century down to the present day. Even now under 
the effulgent rays of the twentieth century these heroes, 
the greatest of the world's heroes, are still suffering mar- 
tyrdom. 

It must be conceded that most of those who have 
proved themselves to be heroes in the cause of missions 
in these latter days belong to the white race, but this 
will be understood and considered, favorably so, when 
we take into account the fact that the black and yellow 
races of the world furnish mfost of the pagans or 
heathen who are yet to be redeemed and brought to a 
knowledge of Jesus Christ. 

In 1620 when the first African slaves were landed on 
American soil, a real missionary work was begun. It 
was not the intention of those who sold the African 
into slavery to be doing a work that would ultimately 
honor God, and would in the course of tame by a reflex 
influence enter very materially into the redemption of 



300 MODERN BAPTIST 

that dark continent from paganism; but such was His 
purpose, and that purpose was not slow in ripening. 
The African slave in America almost instantly imbibed 
the spirit of Christianity from his master, and the master 
almost as soon learned that Christianity was an essential 
element to instill into the slave*, if the slave was to be 
profitable. It is by no means the object of this story 
in any way to justify slavery, but we would be very 
unjust to our own convictions if we did not say that 
many of the slave masters took special pains 'to see to it 
that their slaves were given the opportunity to attend 
religious services, even though the services were held in 
most cases under the guardful eye of the master or his 
representative. 

Prior to the emancipation most of the slaves who had 
been converted held membership in the White churches, 
yet there were a few notable exceptions, for in the North 
and South there are some Negro Baj>tist churches more 
than a hundred years old. In the South, notably in 
Virginia and Georgia, there are today Negro churches 
(Baptist) which were organized during the eighteenth 
century, and in most cases the pastors of the Negro 
churches prior to the war were either white or under 
the guidance of white ministers; though the Negro min- 
isters were allowed to preach or exhort to their own 
people. 

The Baptist idea of the absolute freedom of the soul 
and the independent worship of Cod without the dic- 
tation of civil powers, had permeated the minds of the 






HEROES AND MARTYRS. 301 

slaves prior to the breaking out of the civil war, and 
had freedom not come when it did many of them would 
have sought it, and doubtless would have had many 
white Baptists in the South to lend them aid in that di- 
rection, for slavery cannot exist where Baptist principles 
prevail. 

Some of the slave converts to the Christian religion 
professed to be called to the ministry and boldly pro- 
claimed it. As remarkable as it may seem to some, the 
masters in -most cases gladly gave liberty to such men to 
go from plantation to plantation for ,the purpose of 
preaching. If any doubt should be entertained on this 
matter, I would ask you to read Dr. Hatcher's book on 
John Jasper, and also the words of Jasper, himself, as 
to the liberty granted him by 'his master. 

In 1780 there was born in Charles City, Va., on« 
of the most remarkable characters of modern times. 
'Phis was no other than Lott Carey, who was born a 
slave, but fortunately for him he belonged to that class 
of slave holders who believed it right for their slaves to 
be taught the benefits of the Christian religion. Lott 
Carey having been given the opportunity to hear the 
Gospel, which always reveals the incomprehensible love 
of God, for "faith comes by hearing," and having 
learned that "God so loved the world that He gave His 
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him 
should not perish, but have everlasting life," he at once 
surrendered to the will' of the Holy Spirit and was con- 
verted at the age of twenty-seven years, joining $*$ 



302 MODERN BAPTIST 

First Baptist church (white) of Richmond, Va. Not 
long after his conversion, Carey made the fact known 
that he was called of God to preach the Gospel, and his 
church promptly gave him a commission to preach. 

The desire which Carey had to preach the Gospel was 
eo very great that he felt himself circumscribed by the 
bonds of slavery, hence he set about to obtain his free- 
dom. He was an ordinary hand in a tobacco factory in 
Richmond, Va,., but was allowed to put in extra time 
for which he was paid by his employer. He saved all 
the money earned in that way until he had sufficient 
funds to buy himself and his two children, his wife 
having been released from the bonds of slavery by death. 

The education of Carey was, as might be expected 
under the conditions which existed at that time, very 
limited; but education does not consist altogether in a 
knowledge of books, hence Carey had a great store of 
knowledge which he had gained while a slave by con- 
tact with the aristocratic white people of his day and 
time, and this contact had broadened his vision of men 
and things to the extent that he could foresee what 
Christianity would do for a man or a nation. 

Rev. Wm. Alexander, the secretary of the Lott Carey 
Convention, from whom I get many of the facts of this 
story, in his report to that bodj- in 1907, said of his 
education ; "He attended night school taught by a white 
man, a friend to the race. Carey was the best student 
in his class, and soon won the reputation of an educated 
Negro.'*' Like Nehemiah, who, though doing well as a 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 303 

servant in the house of a king could not repress the 
sorrow of his heart for his people, who had escaped the 
captivity, so Carey's heart, after he had gained his free- 
dom, went out to his brethren in far away Africa. 

The one Scripture which lingered longest in his 
mind, and from which he could get no permanent relief, 
was that recorded in the twenty-eighth chapter of Mat- 
thew, nineteenth and twentieth verses, "Go ye therefore) 
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of 
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost: * * * 
lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world, 
Amen." This scripture haunted him until he made his 
desire known to his church, that he must go to Africa 
to preach the Gospel, He was given the privilege of 
coming before the church, and he preached his farewell 
sermon to a congregation of white and colored people. 
Carey used as his text on the occasion of his farewell 
sermon, these words: "He that spared not His own Son, 
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with 
Him also freely give us all things," — Romans 8:32. 

It is said that the impression created by that sermon 
was so deep and lasting that many of the people who were 
in the congregation set about from that hour to form a 
foreign missionary society among his own people for the 
specific purpose of giving the Gospel to the millions of 
heathen in Africa. The date of the organization of the 
society is 1815 ; its first work was to raise money to send 
Carey to Africa. 

In pursuance with his set purpose to go to Africa to 



304 MODERN BAPTIST 

preach the Gospel to his brethren on the dark continent 
he set sail on the twenty-third day of January, 1821, 
and after a forty days' voyage landed safely in Liberia. 
Having reached the place where his soul had longed for, 
he at once set about hoisting the banner of the cross, and 
in a short time he got together a sufficient number of 
persons who had been led to accept the Lord Jesus Christ, 
and organized a Baptist church which stands as a monu- 
ment to his greait name as a pioneer missionary to tho 
people of the dark continent. 

As slow as has been the development of that country, 
the seed sown by Carey has kept pace with the growth 
of the republic, and many Baptist churches arc there 
today as a result of that seed sowing. 

The ninety years that intervened between the time 
of the sailing of Lott Carey and the present time, have 
not caused the Negro Baptists of this country to forget 
the perilous undertaking of this great missionary hero, 
and they have in honor of his name and work, organized 
an active missionary society, known as the Lott Carey 
Convention, auxiliary to the National Baptist Conven- 
tion, the headquarters' of which is in the "Old Domin- 
ion' ' from whence Carey went. 

It is said by .some that the cross follows the flag, but to 
the writer it seems that the flag follows the cross, Lott 
Carey, believing that Christianity and civil government 
are inseparable in the development of any country and 
that to promote the welfare of Christianity the civil au- 
thorities must be sustained, made himself interested in 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 305 

the government of Liberia, doing what he could to instill 
into the minds of the Liberian people his crude ideas 
of a democratic form of government so characteristic 
of the Baptists. As to how well these ideas took with 
the Liberian people will be seen from the fact that he 
was for a time an important official of the government. 

Owing to the fact that the Negro people have been 
unable to keep an accurate account of the doings of the 
race during the days of slavery, much of the heroic deeds 
of these people have been lost, and yet there is much 
which is still passing in a traditional way to warrant 
the assertion that many devout, pious and far-seeing 
Christians were among the slaves prior to the Civil War. 
Lott Carey will ever stand forth as one of the heroes 
of his race, whose love for the ^cause of Jesus Christ not 
only caused him to secure his freedom, but to brave the 
stormy Atlantic that he might plant the banner of the 
cross on the continent of Africa, his fatherland. 

In the days to come the historians will place along 
side the names of Wm. Carey, Judson and other great 
missionary heroes, the name of Lott Carey, the first 
Negro foreign missionary to the long neglected, pagan- 
ridden, dark continent, Africa. 

In giving an; estimate of the remarkable subject of 
this sketch, the fact should not he overlooked that his 
early days were spent in slavery, and that he did not 
have behind him a long line of cultured and refined 
ancestry, but that he rose out of the school of experience, 
quickened by the Spirit of God. AVhat he learned from 



306 MODERN BAPTIST 

contact with the Christian white people of his section 
combined to say to him; "Go, swift messenger, go, 
and tell the people of yonr race on the other side of tha 
Atlantic the simple story of the cross." 

We have no reliable data of the date of his death, 
but he died at his post after several years of earnest 
labor, having lived long enough to "see the travail of hn 
soul and be satisfied." The work which he planted 
still lives and has borne much fruit, there being in Li- 
beria at this time more than a score of active Baptist 
churches as a result of his planting. Besides these other 
churches have grown up which are the outgrowth of the 
efforts of the Foreign Mission Board of the National 
Baptist Convention. 

Many precious lives have been sacrificed in the pro- 
mulgation of the Gospel, almost upon the same ground 
where Carey commenced the work nearly a century ago. 
The missionaries under the Negro Foreign Mission 
Board have not all been free from persecution, for some 
of the native helpers now on the field have suffered im- 
prisonment, but like Paul, have said, "none of these 
things move me;" "the kings of the earth set themselves, 
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord 
and against His anointed, saying, 'let us break their 
bands asunder and cast away their cords from us/ " "He 
that sitteth in the Heaven shall laugh; the Lord shall 
have them in derision." 

It is worthy of note that one other Negro Baptist 
hero went out from the South — Georgia. In the year 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 307 

1783, the Negroes of the "Empire State" raised money 
and sent the Rev. George Lisle to the West Indies, where 
he planted the banner of the cross. As the result of his 
labors there are now in the West Indies thirty well or- 
ganized Baptist churches. 

E. C. Morris, D.D., Helena, Ark. 
President of the National Baptist Convention. 



TOUSSAINT L' OUVERTURE, 
A HAITIAN MARTYR. 

Since whoever gives his life in freeing the people in 
civic and religious affairs is "fundamentally a Baptist" 
it will not be fair to the coming generations who will 
read this book to fail to mention this great man of pure 
Negro blood, who through his ability to plan and to put 
his plan into execution is acknowledged to be one of the 
greatest generals the world has known. In discussing 
this great man we must bear in mind the fact that he 
lived at a time when duty to one's country and fellow 
man came first, but had the Baptist doctrine spread its 
pinions and traveled across the ocean to the beautiful 
island of Haiti during the time of 'his life, Toussaint 
L'Ouverture, I am sure, would have accepted its teach- 
ings and abided by its laws and regulations, for he was 
a lover of freedom and freedom's harvests. 

Toussaint L'Ouverture, or Toussaint Breda, was born 
on the island of Haiti, May 20, 1743, of Negro parent- 
age. It is said that not one drop of alien blood flowed 
through his veins. His father was the second son of an 
African chief who had been stolen from his father's 
home on the coast of Africa and sold into slavery on 



310 MODERN BAPTIST 

the island. In youth the boy was very delicate, but as 
he grew older he became stronger. He is supposed to 
have been born at Breda and was of a very kind and 
generous disposition. While quite young he attained 
much favor with his master and was made overseer of 
his large plantation. By grasping every opportunity ha 
obtained a good education. He was helped in this by 
his wife who was a widow and who did all in her power 
to help her husband in his search for knowledge. 

At the outbreak of the French Revolution there were 
ten thousand Negroes on the Island of Haiti and almost 
as many mulattoes. There were French, English and 
Spaniards on the island also. The mulattoes growing 
tired of social discrimination began to clamor for equal- 
ity, and the island was tense with excitement. After 
much treachery and political intrigue the 'antagonistic 
parties were unable to reach 'an agreement and both 
factions appealed to the Negroes of the island and there 
was a general uprising. 

Toussaint L'Ouverture having obtained some knowl- 
edge of medicine and surgery went first among the sol- 
diers as a physician, but his people were sadly in need 
of a leader, and he was soon called to the front to lead 
them. With his gift of guidance and leadership he was 
soon able to form] out of this mass of untrained, undis- 
ciplined humanity (many of whom had never seen a 
soldier until France began to pour her troops into their 
little dominion) an army that was able to drive all be- 
fore it and raise the flag of Negro supremacy over the 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 311 

island with Toussaint L'Ouverture as ruler over its des- 
tiny. Under his rule Haiti was happy and prosperous. 
In May, 1801, he drafted a constitution for the country 
and submitted it to France. For a few years the dove 
of peace, happiness and prosperity hovered over this 
Pearl of the Seas, but Napoleon grew jealous of the free- 
dom enjoyed by these Negroes and issued a mandate re- 
ducing the island to slavery, sending the French troops 
to carry out his orders. 

Bribes were offered Toussaint L'Ouverture and many 
were the fair promises made to him if he would enslave 
the people of the island, but his great heart would not 
allow him to betray his brethren with whom he had 
fought side by side, many of whose eyes he had closed 
on the battlefield after they had laid down their lives on 
the altar to freedom, that goddess to whom all men pay 
obeisance. He had many letters in Napoleon's own 
handwriting offering him enormous wealth if he would 
enslave the people over whom he ruled, but back as far 
as 1801 it was proven to the world that a soul can live 
on this earth, housed in a body of ebony hue and not 
be guilty of treachery, or of mean or low trickery. Tous- 
saint L'Ouverture demonstrated once for all that th« 
color of a man's skin is not the index of his soul. He 
spurned the wily Frenchman's offer and threw a3 it 
were Napoleon*s gold back into his face. But Napoleon 
had no disposition or inclination to discriminate between 
fair and foul means when either would carry out his 
end. If the former would not carry out his plans he 



312 MODERN BAPTIST 

would without a tremor resort to the latter. By a piect 
of low treachery he fooled this Negro ruler aboard a 
ship, and Toussaint L'Ouverture, pure of soul and know- 
ing nothing of trickery, did not realize his awful posi- 
tion, that he was the victim of a foul scheme, till tha 
ship at the bidding of Napoleon weighed anchor and 
sailed for France, with himself a prisoner. 

Once off the island all the indignities that were pos- 
sible were heaped upon him. Napoleon had him placed 
in a dungeon near the boundary of Switzerland and 
France, and there he died of starvation, April 27, 1803. 

It is hardly possible to do justice to this black genius 
of the eighteenth century. By many he is considered 
the greatest military genius the world has produced. 
The French gave to the world the great Napoleon, whoss 
eoul throbbed with the same amount of military genius 
that actuated Hannibal the Carthagenian, another great 
Negro general, who upon being informed that a great 
natural barrier lay between him and his desires, said, 
"There are no Alps," in his egotism ignoring one of the 
greatest and sublimest attestations of God's power. But 
we must remember at the age of twenty-four when the 
fires of a man's soul burn brightest and every sinew 
is throbbing with an over-exuberance of life, the well- 
trained Napoleon was placed at the head of the best army 
ever brought together on European soil. The English 
gave to history Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell had to maka 
his army, it is true, but he had at his disposal all the 
solidity, courage and hardihood of the English combined 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 313 

with the fire, valor and love of freedom. 1 of the Irish, 
and when he went forth to battle it was to conquer his 
equals. But Toussaint L'Ouverture by sheer force of abil- 
ity arose from the depths and degradation of slavery 
and took his place as leader of his people. To him was 
given the double task of rising out of the mire of ignor- 
ance, superstition and vice, and then of reaching down 
to bring fifteen thousand of his own people up 
from the same degraded level he himself had left. 

Yes, Oliver Cromwell made England's great army; 
Napoleon as the leader of the French is without a peer 
in history, but it was left to a Negro, born under the 
awful cloud of human slavery, rocked in the lap of 
treachery, vice and crime, nursed on the bottle of ignor- 
ance, to rise up and assume the leadership of a class of 
despicable human beings, called Negroes, degraded by 
years of servitude, and out of this mass of humanity to 
train an army that, to use some of the words of Mae- 
aulay, "Brought down the proudest blood of Europe, 
the Spanish, and sent them home conquered; met the 
moist warlike blood in Europe, the French, and put them 
under his feet; outwitted the pluckiest blood in Europe* 
the English, who sulked home to Jamaica." 

Notwithstanding the cloud under which he was born 
with its heritage of ignorance, superstition and crime 
this man had the true essentials of religion. It is doubt- 
ful if he had the time during his military career to search 
the Scriptures, yet his was the spirit of the lowly Nazar- 
ene, for when he was parting with his son in that lonely 



314 MODERN BAPTIST 

castle in the cold, bleak mountains, with nothing before 
him but days of dreary confinement and without even 
the necessities of life, he said to his son, "My boy, you 
will one day go back to San Domingo; forget that Franco 
murdered your father." 

Here was a man who could weigh wealth on one side 
and duty to his fellow man on the other and not allow 
the gleam of the metal to change his conviction. 

In this day of prejudice and narrowness, a hero 
with a black skin does not receive due recognition from 
the world ; but the time will come when things will have 
changed, when God giving heed to the clamorings of 
this mass of black humanity will step out on the portals 
of glory and begin to bring order out of chaos, right out 
of wrong. Then will the minds of men be broadened; 
then the motto of the world will be; "Texture of soul, 
not color of skin." In that time when God in looking 
over the names of those who have done well, though 
many names will be on the list, He will not fail to note 
the hero leader, regardless of color. Then will He read 
out with the others and give honor to the name of 
Toussaint L' Ouverture, the Black General of Haiti. 

R. H. Boyd, D.D., 
Nashville, Tenn. 



KIN CHEOSS, AN INDIAN HERO. 

Kin Cheoss was the name of a Waco Indian Medi- 
cine Man. He was born about the year of 1800. His 
childhood home was beside the beautiful Brazos, at the 
place where the city of Waco, Texas, now stands. This 
city took its name from the Indian tribe that one? 
lived there. € Kin Oheoss was a young brave when the 
white men first began to settle in the Brazos valley. 
The chief of the Wacoes at that time was the famous 
Red Tail, a noted warrior. When the white men be- 
gan hunting on the hunting grounds of the Indians, 
and began killing the buffalo which the Indians re- 
garded as their cattle, the Indians protested. So vigor- 
ous was the protest of Red Tail that the white people 
were compelled to treat with them. The treaty was 
brought about by the famous Sam Houston, and the 
treaty was signed by him. I have a copy of the treaty, 
which I copied from the original which was then in 
the possession of Coth Cho Tehat (Buffalo Good), the 
son and successor of Red Tail. That treaty recited 
that all hostilities should cease, and that a boundary 
line be established between the Wacoes and the white 
people, and that line should run north from the junc- 
tion of the San Saba and the Cow House, to the Ante- 
lope Butts. The Indians adhered faithfully to the 



316 MODERN BAPTIST 

treaty, but the white people violated it without con- 
science. The white settlers paid no attention to the 
line, but settled west of it, -and continued to kill buffalo 
wherever they could find them. Then there arose trouble 
between the young braves and the settler?. Bed Tail 
sent this message to Sam Houston: "If you will not 
keep your people from our side of the line, I cannot 
keep my people from killing your people/' Thereupon 
General Sam Houston issued a proclamation warning 
the white people from breaking the treaty. But the 
warning did no good, and a war ensued. The Indians 
of course were driven back. 

Kin Cheoss was from his boyhood a worshiper of 
the Great Spirit. He found this tradition *among his 
people: In the long-ago ages there was a white man 
who came among them, called Corles (supposed to have 
been Cortez) . He had a cross, and was afraid of it. He 
told the Indian fathers that a white man would one 
day come and tell them of the Great Spirit. And this 
was accepted as a prophecy. The Wacoes firmly believed 
it. But owing to the warfare between the Wacoes and 
the white people, it was hard to believe that the white 
people would ever come to them with anything good. 
But in his heart, Kin Cheoss hid all these things. 
Sometimes he would cry out in agony: "Come, Great 
Spirit and tell us." One day a chief named Soda 
Arko returned from a trading trip to the Seminoles and 
told the story of how he had seen with his own eyes the 
promised Father-Talker, and that he had promised to 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 317 

come to them in the spring. Kin Cheoss looked and 
longed for the promised time to come. He made medi- 
cine after the custom of his people, hoping to bring the 
white Father-Talker earlier. 

One clay, about the middle of June in 1877 there 
came a runner through the camp saying that the white 
Father-Talker had come and was then in Ketch Raw's 
camp. All the Indians were stirred at the news. The 
next day the Father-Talker appeared together with a 
band of civilized Indians. Word quickly spread, and 
soon a vast concourse of Indians was gathered together. 
The Father-Talker announced that two days from that 
time he would talk to all the Indians at the hill, west 
of the ford on Sugar Creek. At nine o'cl'oek of that 
morning, a vast congregation gathered. There was the 
stalwart John Jumper, John Mcintosh, Hulbutta Harjo 
and Tulsa Micco. John Jumper, weighing three hun- 
dred pounds in his moccasins, first spoke, and his speech 
was interpreted by John Mcintosh. He introduced the 
Father-Talker, saying what a blessing he was to his 
people. Then came the speech of the Father-Talker. 
He spoke all the rest of the day. He told the Gospel 
story. For the first time they heard it. Kin Cheoss 
pressed close and listened breathlessly. 

He told of the wonderful Christ, of His miraculous 
birth, His benevolent life, and His sacrificial death. 
There crept into the heart of Kin Cheoss a great peace 
and a light brighter than the sun. At the close of his 
talk, the Father-Talker, invited any who might desire 



318 MODERN BAPTIST 

to walk this road, to arise and then Kin Cheoss arose, 
and came forward with great swelling emotions in hia 
heart. Then the Father-Talker said, "Let us pray to the 
great Father," and then the Indians all knelt, some of 
them falling flat on their faces. Kin Cheoss was among 
the latter. Close to him knelt the Father-Talker. He 
talked with the Great Spirit, to whom Kin Cheoss wa<3 
near, and he felt rather than saw a great light. Then 
there fell on the heart of Kin Cheoss a glad peace and 
he was supremely happy. When they arose from their 
prostrate position, Kin Cheoss clasped the Father-Talker 
and lifted him bodily from his feet and carried him 
about while tears streamed down his face. That was the 
greatest day in the life of Kin Cheoss. He, with about a 
dozen others, was. baptized by the preacher and John 
Mcintosh in Sugar Creek and a new life was opened to 
him. He made medicine no longer to an unknown God. 
He went directly to Jesus who had given him supreme 
peace. 

One act of his Christian life I will mention: When 
the persecutions of the Father-Talker came and he was 
ordered to leave immediately his field of labor by the 
government, Kin Cheoss came to his relief, and ^aid 
he would take his horse and keep it for him while he 
was gone. Furthermore that he would watch his wife, 
who was ill and could not be moved, and that he would 
stand between her and all danger, and that his life would 
answer for hers. Her husband was absent about a 
month. During all this time Kin Cheoss was never 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 319 

once in the 'house, but seemed to be omnipresent 
about the premises. She was out of meat, and meat and 
bread were the only articles of diet. Kin Cheoss found 
it out by some sort of alchemy, and one morning she 
saw him coming up the hill with a leg of venison, 
which he hung on a tree near the door. It was against 
the instructions of the government agent for the Indians 
to furnish white people anything. She was never again 
in want during her husband's absence. When he re- 
turned, Kin Cheoss was the first to see him, and coming 
forward with outstretched hands, he said, "There wife. 
I go." 

When in later years the white Father-Talker wag 
transferred to another field, the day he left Kin Cheoss 
came, and took him into a quiet place and said, mostly 
in the sign language, "You go, me stay ; you live long, 
me soon lie down and get up no more. When me lie down 
and get up no more, Jesus come and take me to Him. 
Then me be very happy. But me watch for you come. 
By and by after long time, you lie down and get up 
no more. Then you come up and I see you com©. Then 
I come and take you by hand, and lead you up to Jesus 
and say : 'Here Jesus, this is th© Father-Talker that told 
me about You.' " 

Then he embraced me and took his departure, and 
I saw his face no more. 

This parting scene is made famous by having been 
published in the book of Major Powell, of Columbia 
College, and printed by the government, and kept in 



320 MODERN BAPTIST 

the Smithsonian Institute as the best extant specimen 
of the sign language. 

The Father-Talker desires to pay this grateful trib- 
ute to his friend: He was one of the most sincere and 
spiritually minded persons I have ever met. That he 
was a true child of God, I have never once stood in 
doubt. Long ago he departed. In the regions beyond 
he is watching and waiting. 

A. J. Holt, D.D. 
Oklahoma City, Okla. 



THE MARTYR MARKS. 

On an excessively cold night in December, 1872, 
I met an engagement to speak on education in the 
Baptist church at Chatham, Virginia. It was only a 
poor audience that braved the rigors of the night — pos- 
sibly not more than forty or fifty persons in all. In the 
historical portion of my address I gave a brief account 
of that brave old spirit of colonial times, Rev. John 
Wetherford, whose dauntless spirit and fearless convic- 
tions got him into many serious troubles with the civic 
and ecclesiastical authorities of colonial times. He 
traveled far and wide in Southside Virginia and by 
his fiery eloquence he created great excitement. Scores 
and hundreds were converted under his preaching and 
in many cases he was obliged to administer baptism in 
the later hours of the night lest the enemies of his faith 
should pounce upon him and take him to jail. 

For quite a long time Mr. Wetherford was confined 
in the colonial jail at Chesterfield, C. H., Va.,but neither 
prison bars nor locks had terror for him. His brethren 
and admirers flocked on Sunday to the village and 
thronged the yard of the jail. Their loyalty and their 
eagerness to hear the "Word stirred the heart of the 
courageous prisoner and he would lift the window and 



322 MODERN BAPTIST 

thrust his hands through the bars that he might shake 
hands with his loyal friends. He would also preach 
through the window to the assemblage and often in the 
ardor of delivery would thrust his hands through the 
bars in earnest gesture. Men of the baser sort were 
instigated to stand on either side of the window and 
armed with knives would slash his hands in unpitying 
cruelty, until as it was said his hand would stream with 
blood as he spoke, and sometimes in his gesticulations 
forgetful of the wounds he would scatter his blood on 
his hearers or on the ground. This story I related some- 
what in detail and much to the interest of the appreci- 
ative audience. 

When I finished my address, I took my seat and a 
serious silence ensued. Presently a stocky old gentle- 
man with white hair and a strong face came to his feet. 
I learned afterward that it was Dr. Wm. White, an 
eminent physician of that community, a pronounced 
Baptist and an eloquent speaker. 

"My neighbors and friends/' said the doctor in 
tones almost auspicious, "this visitor has told us strange 
things tonight, and of my own knowledge I cannot 
testify that many of the things that he has said are 
true for I never heard of them before, but I must at 
least thank the gentleman for explaining to me one 
thing which has been a puzzle and a confusion to me. 

"It may not be known to all of you, though it is 
a fact, that Mr. John Wetherford, so graphically de- 
scribed by the speaker tonight, settled just eight miles 



HEROES AND MARTYRS. 323 

from this place after the Revolutionary War. He was 
one of God's mightiest men, a preacher of surpassing 
power and many of the churches in this section of Vir- 
ginia were founded by his ministry. "We are indebted 
to him in large measure for the strong Baptist sentiment 
now existing in this and adjacent counties. 

"One morning I noticed that my father, dressed 
with unwonted care, was about to set off for a journey 
on horseback. When I asked him where he was going, 
he said with great seriousness, he was going to attend 
the funeral of the Rev. John Wetherford, one of the 
greatest preachers he had ever known. To my grateful 
surprise he consented that I might go with him. I was 
put astride the horse behind him. My astonishment 
knew no bounds when I reached the home of the old 
preacher. Never had I seen such an array of horses, 
carriages, wagons and other vehicles as fairly covered 
the earth. When I expressed my amazement at the 
sight, my father told me in accents serious and tender 
that the people had come from every direction to testify 
to the worth and honor of the good man. 

"After the funeral exercises were concluded we were 
told that those who desired to do so would be allowed to 
take a last look at the dead. It was a moment of awe 
to me, for I had not seen the face of the dead before. 
I clasped tightly my father's hand and followed him 
as the line filed by the coffin. I was barely tall enough 
to look into the coffin. The hands of the veteran min- 
ister lay ungloved upon his breast with palms down- 



324 MODERN BAPTIST 

ward. I noticed the stiff and bloodless look they had 
and saw white and rigid seams extending across the 
back of each hand. The fact impressed me at the time, 
but I kept silence and a thousand times I dare say I 
recalled those singular marks on the hands of the dead 
preacher, but never attempted to explain them. I thank 
my brother for bringing me tonight so simple and satis- 
factory a solution of a perplexity which for full sixty 
years has troubled my mind. They were the marks of 
the Lord Jesus — martyr marks of God's hero. Honor 
to his noble memory and to all who have suffered for 
the Kingdom of God. Our illustrious father Weth- 
erford sleeps this winter night in a neglected grave — no 
granite shaft nor marble slab, nor enclosure, not even 
a flower, pays tribute to the memory of this good man. 
He not only suffered for us and for the principles which 
we cherish, but it was his tears and blood which gave 
us our place and prominence in Virginia tonight. If 
by my modest gift, a gift which must be small — for 
cruel war has lately ravished me of all my substance, 
I can do aught to honor the martyr spirit of John 
Wetherford and his co-laborers, I will account it a happy 
and honorable privilege to do so." Before taking his 
seat, the venerable doctor, who had set flame to every 
heart by his unconscious eloquence, named a sum that 
he would give to the memorial movement for education, 
so unexpectedly generous that it called forth speedy and 
unusual responses. 

William E. Hatcher, D.D., Fork Union, Va. 




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Treatment Date: April 2006 

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1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township. PA 160 
(724)779-2111 



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